A High, Loud, Rise
by ClayIsGold
Summary: (Inspired by the concept of LoudAutomata16's story, "The Loud Apartment") 16-year old Lincoln Loud and his small family have just moved into their new apartment in the city. While he juggles the stresses of moving and as well as of becoming an adult, a little sooner than he may have liked, At first reluctant, he soon enough starts making friends with some of his new neighbors.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Not all of the Loud House cast are related.**

**The related ones are: **

**Lincoln and Lily.**

**Lola and Lana. **

**Lori and Leni. **

**Additionally, almost all of the Loud kids have had their ages changed slightly or so.**

**Creative liberties, yay.**

**The ages for them are:**

**Lincoln : 16**

**Lori: 17**

**Leni: 16**

**Luna: 16**

**Luan: 15**

**Lynn Jr: 15**

**Lucy: 13**

**Lola/Lana: 10**

**Lisa: 8**

**Lily: 6**

**Lastly a shoutout to LoudAutomata16, he uh, has cool hair, I guess?**

**-Now onto the story…-**

It was a little past Six in the evening, the sun slowly starting its descent down - signaling yet another end of a long and hot day, and yet the vibrant sounds of urban life continue to hum without a miss of a single beat. For some it was the end of another day of life and for others, it was the start of a new one.

For a certain white-haired teenager sitting atop a rooftop of a certain apartment building, staring aimlessly yet acknowledging of all this in front of him, this wasn't just another day of his life, but rather it was the start of a new life entirely for him.

Meet Lincoln Loud, a 16-year old boy who, foremost, loved Ace Savvy comics, alongside essentially anything to the superhero, he had a rather modestly impressive talent in drawing and art, he loved video-games, his family - his parents and his sister, he loved his friends… and he loved oh so much more close to him.

The boy, sitting down Indian-style had just recently - that is, today - moved from his old home town of Royal Woods, the one where he had lived for the 16 years of his life, to Great Lakes City. Humble suburbs to daunting urban life.

He should've been helping his parents unpack right now, and he was - up until his mood began to sour and he decided he needed some time to himself. Not wanting to roam around a city he had no idea about he decided to just head to the roof of the apartment building instead.

His parents had chosen to move here due to mainly financial reasons. That is to say, they were offered some rather lucrative job opportunities - ones that would secure his future and that of his little sister and so on. Admittedly there were other reasons as well, but these were - or at least presented to be - the main ones.

For his mother, Rita, she had been offered a position via some friends in a Health Insurance office, 'De Ross Care' as it was called. It wasn't an executive position or anything but it was fairly senior enough and fairly 'up there' that his mother made quite the decent paycheck, plus there was always the potential that she would eventually end up getting an executive spot. Eventually.

It was just as well, Lincoln figured, his mother did deserve a job like this - she was a hard and diligent worker and she had been fairly loyal to her previous job, having worked there for over 14 years, she was fairly sad to leave it behind too.

His father, Lynn, on the other hand was a bit of a curious case, for years he worked towards his dream; that of owning his own restaurant. A dream since his childhood. With that said Lynn was a fantastic cook, he had been into the trade since his Preteen years and fast forward today he had the skill and finesse to… almost... rival a world renowned chef, plus his spaghetti was something Italian guys in suits would kill for!

Lynn had in fact, eventually achieved his dream of owning his own restaurant and it became quite popular, quickly rated among the top 3 restaurants of the town. Certainly well above your average burger and smoothie joint. Business would be booming at best - there would at least be a mild ruckus at worst, his family would, of course, get a few free meals here and there and Lincoln would usually help out at the restaurant - cleaning the floors, tables and dishes et cetera. And of course he would help with cooking there - a skill he would also use at home alongside his dad.

Income was never really a particular issue with the restaurant, so it caught Lincoln off guard that his dad decided to sell it after he was given a job offer as a Chef - A Sous Chef **\- **at a restaurant, _someone else's_ restaurant in the city. Sure it was a pretty big title and all, Sous Chef was the 'Second-In-Command' chef, but how was that better than owning your own restaurant?!

Well, Lincoln was then told the details of the whole deal - the restaurant in question was a very high-end restaurant, big, fancy and highly rated; the high class sort. Its name was 'La Délicatesse' (well, what else would it be called? Uncle Bill's Tummy Fillin' Hall?) and the pay was very, _very_ hefty indeed, it wouldn't make them millionaires any time quick…even with the salary combined Rita's but it was certainly a comfortable amount, it would bring them well over halfway to the seven-digit status. Plus along with other nuances in the job contract made it so it was a relatively more reliable form of income as well. Lincoln had never seen nor imagined a grown-man in his late thirties would be ever so giddy. He could almost swear he saw some of his father's long fallen hair grow back.

So there it was, and the decision was set. Although there may have been other reasons for the move, the obvious ones were apparent, he had to give up his old life for the sake of a new, promising future - he didn't have to entirely like it, but he understood without complaint nonetheless.

After all in recent years he had become what some would say 'wise beyond his years'...In more ways than one. Though he was still, not an adult just yet… But close. Very close.

Leaving behind his old friends was still a hard thing to swallow though, after all they had been through, after all the support he gave, and after all the support he received from them. You can't just get up and wave goodbye to good friends and good people you've known for years. For over a decade.

Especially Clyde, arguably his closet but certainly his longest best friend. After him there's Liam, Paige and Jordan… the girl. Well he supposes he was on good terms with the boy too. Good Lord, he was even feeling a slight nostalgia for Chandler!

Lincoln briefly snapped out of his longing day-dream to let a soft chuckle… albeit with an equally soft sigh he went right back into his thoughts.

He in particular missed his older friend Bobby; his Bro, as they liked to call each other, to Lincoln he was his Big Bro - the one he never had, although Bobby was only 2 years older than him, the bond was there. he was a mature kind of guy, working a lot of part time jobs to help out his _large_ family. Maybe he was a bit of a Klutz too, but he was still pretty cool. Alongside him he missed Bobby's little sister Ronnie-Anne who was as old as him- their friendship was a bit of a roller coaster the last few years to say the least, but in the end they managed to remain close and best friends.

All those Memories...Bonds...and History… Sure, it wasn't like Lincoln was moving away to another continent and was going to live off the grid in the Siberian wastes and eventually pair up with a Russian mercenary named Reznov and-

Lincoln briefly stopped his thoughts for a moment, as if readjusting his metaphorical imagination lens inside his head, checking for mental cracks on its surface. And maybe for a loose screw...or sixty. He had a pretty strong imagination and creative mind, one of the perks of spending his time growing up in comics and videogames. No wonder his modest talent in art.

Back to his original train of thought… He wasn't just vanishing away from life - he could always, when they were available, call them. Talk to them. Video chat with them. Hell, there was still a chance he would meet them- one of them again - not necessarily in Royal Woods. In fact, Bobby had been planning to visit the city for his own personal reasons for a while now - maybe he'll be lucky to see his bro, soon even!

Lincoln got himself ever so slightly smiling goofily at the thought, a teenager humbly beyond his years he maybe but he was still a kid on the inside. His still well-preserved Ace-Savvy costume being a testament to that.

But that died down quick. Reality was a quick bullet, as Lincoln came back to the sense of his surroundings. His small modest smile slowly fading.

Maybe that was it… maybe he was still a kid, and just like a kid he was scared of this new place. Of new people. And of what was to come in a place and life so unfamiliar to him. Even with all he had grown...

In all Honesty, It wasn't like urban life was a Disney tale; unless you were a dog or something.

Lincoln Sighed, this time more notably and took another slow look around the surrounding city from the top of his apartment building….

His new home.

And then he felt the small, delicate movement on his lap. One he was very familiar with.

It was a soft roll… then a small head of white hair, like his own, showed itself… a small arm reaching out towards him - towards his face - and then there were bright blue eyes looking directly at him, as if he were the savior of humanity himself…

It was a little girl, a few months over a year old, wearing a soft, yellow onesie and white socks. She was a ball of pure innocence... she was his family.

Lincoln softly put his arms around her and lifted her - slowly and carefully as if trying to lift a piece of a cloud. He cooed to her and gave her a small delicate kiss on her forehead and then settled her in his arms sideways, looking down at her every moment. A soft and warm smile staying on his face for every moment - as the little toddler stared upwards with her own - wider and brighter smile.

"Aw, Bun…. Did you get all worried seeing me sad?" Lincoln said softly and slightly playfully to the little 'Bun'.

"Well… don't you worry about it..._None_…" Lincoln chucked...while also mentally smacking himself for the pun. "I'm just a little scared is all… only a little" he continued. "Everything's different here … plus with what I… uh, we had to leave behind…" he stopped short of what he wanted to say as a tingle of what seemed to be familiar depression was coming back to him.

But as soon as he focused his eyes on the little girl in his arms that tingle was gone- or at least suppressed. and a small but strong smiled adorned his face again - the little girl was looking up at him, with a small, curious 'o' face and eyes staring brightly and widely at him, as if he was some out-of-this-world superhero alien who had just saved her from a villain.

His smile continued as he as he softly nuzzled the little toddler's forehead, inciting a squee and giggles from her, following which he playfully took his index finger and gently booped and pressed her nose.

To which she reacted, grabbing his finger with both her tiny hands - giggling all the way. And thus her young life was complete. This was all the enjoyment she needed. This was essentially all her innocence cared for.

"I'm glad though…..that at least…" Lincoln said still smiling at her. "I'm glad that you don't have to worry about these different things…. That you don't have to be scared." he paused briefly, giving the 15-month old a soft tickle on her cheek, causing another squee and giggle, along with added determination to… teach his finger a lesson?

Lincoln chuckled at the thought of whatever goal the little Dread-Finger slayer was hoping to accomplish. "I'm happy you and Lily will be taken care of, for when you get older." he spoke softly, as he had been doing so.

"I'll be helping to make sure of that too… And I guess I shouldn't complain about myself either…..much." He rolled his eyes, knowing he still had to soothe himself over his new arrangement, among other things.

He took another long look at the young girl, still playing with his finger with all the joy of universe, safe and happy in her own world, safe and happy in his arms…

Lincoln broke his look from the young baby girl and yet again took a slow view of the buildings around him - from one side to the other at the buildings that were as tall as the one he now lived in - and others that were even taller, with the sun still ever so slowly putting itself away.

He tilted his head back and took in a deep breath, and gave out a now, long exasperated sigh followed by silence. Brief silence.

"I can relate"

…

In that instance, inside Lincoln's head, All the swear and cuss words in the known universe - and perhaps some from behind the edges of reality, blitz past his brain like lighting through a rod.

….

"HOLY CHRIST IN A BUNNY SUIT JUMPING ON AN ORANGE POGO STICK!" came out his reply.

The little girl in his arms stopped playing with his finger and looked up at him with a now neutral look, Meanwhile Lincoln with wide eyes looked down at the girl, took a breath and turned around slowly to set his gaze upon whoever it was that essentially gave him an outer-body experience - and turning his skin almost as white as his hair.

After a few, er, several heavy-inhales, almost hyperventilating-like, He turned around to see a sight that… Peaked his interest? While also catching him off-guard almost the same as the sudden voice - a girl with completely dark hair, pale skin, wearing a black sleeveless dress, which went down to her waist, followed by a simple black skirt that stopped at the top of her knees, her arms covered instead by the sleeves of a white undershirt, along with this she had black and white striped leggings covering her legs, with black shoes and white socks. She had some sort of ornament in her hair but Lincoln couldn't tell what- since it was as dark as her hair and blended in. Almost lastly, she had a small, normal-looking and rather humble golden necklace around her neck. And maybe most curious of all, the thick front bangs of her hair completely covering her eyes. She certainly was going for a look.

And yet what was even more curious was the fact she seemed completely unfazed by his reaction. As opposed to any other person, who would be pondering several questions about life, triviality of existence, and also as to which kind of bunny-suit Lincoln may have been referring to, as he kept in mind the fact he was on a open roof in the middle of the city.

His startled expression changed to that of a Raised-Eyebrow expression as he looked at her for a moment…. And then the sudden realization that he was now in a situation where he was about to converse with her….

Of all the people he could've met first in the city… Actually you know what, it's the city - there were far worse people you could meet in the city - like some crazy sociopathic clown with a strange obsession for bats…. huh.

"Rig...Right…" Lincoln mumbled. Snapping out of his ... creative views of urban life.

He had the Goth girl in front of him to focus on, and yes he knew what Goth was. However, in this particular case, given the girls notably pale skin, Lincoln couldn't help feel but a slight bit…_creeped out_.

"Creepy or not though…" Lincoln thought to himself… "she's kinda cu-"

Even for the most responsible of 16 year olds, teenage hormones can be a hell of a drug.

Almost immediately Lincoln shook his head and made a mental note to smack himself later - possibly to the amusement to the little girl in his arms, and or his little sister Lily.

Once again, he refocused himself to the pale girl in front of him, still standing all but still.

"...Hi?" Lincoln said, speaking as unsure as if he were talking to a cosmic entity of some sort.

"Hi." She replied in a monotone voice, following which there was a brief pause between them before she continued. "You're the new one who just moved in. I saw you were deep in your thoughts." she went on, "And It looks like they've been troubling you for a while." She said, referring to and noticing the bags under the boy's eyes, they weren't particularly heavy or anything – but enough to be noticeable especially up-close.

"I'd recommend writing them down somewhere, like I do, it helps in… lessening their weight, so to speak." she finished what she wanted to say, not a single change in her demeanor.

Lincoln blinked for a moment, before replying to her. "Right...Heh that's the same advice one of my friends gave me a while back." Lincoln started thinking back momentarily, however, not wanting to start reminiscing in the middle of a conversation - even if it was one he didn't really want, it would only make things more awkward, so he continued his side of the conversation.

"Name's Lincoln… and No, I am not in fact, a young 50 year old." He said half-joking, gesturing towards his white hair - it was generally the first thing people took notice of.

The girl gave what looked like a brisk smile before replying. "I'll admit, your hair's kinda cool" she told him somewhat admiringly, a bit of irony since her hair was pitch black.

"My name is Lucy. Lucy P. Howardson"

Lincoln took notice of her using her middle initial as well as her full name, oddly catching him off guard, but he went on to reply to her.

"Uh...right… In that case it's Lincoln A. Loud for me…. But why the formality?"

"Oh" Lucy quickly replied, "My father tends to use his full name when talking to his colleagues or business partners." she continued. "After watching him do it…I started doing it when I was a little, maybe five or six… after a while it just stuck as a habit, I guess." a slight trickle of embarrassment in her voice as she finished.

"My father encourages me to continue saying it like that though, he says it's respectful to the family name and ancestors… My friends - both mortal and beyond - agree with the sentiment so that's why I say it like that. Have been for a while."

Lincoln shook his head slowly in understanding. "I guess that's kinda neat… wait did you say _mortal and beyond_?"

Lucy nodded in turn "I have fellow Goth friends from school, plus others in the building, alongside which I have a few friends from the Night, the Spirit world and from other realms and realities." she said nonchalantly.

"I come up here to write my thoughts in my journal, though sometimes I come later on the night to, hopefully, converse with some of my _unique_ friends."

"Oh Boy" Lincoln thought to himself, but he had to admit… her being so open about this kind of stuff was pretty admirable. Suppose when you have had a hobby, one you've very much enjoyed, for so long you forget about other people's thoughts on it. It was something he could relate to.

"Well." Lincoln replied, albeit not with entire confidence. "That's pretty cool… but how long were you standing there exactly?"

"A few minutes. I didn't hear much of what you were saying though, since you were speaking pretty quietly… impressive really." Lucy replied

"Spuu-key!". A sudden, small voice cried out.

Both Lincoln and Lucy turned towards the little girl in Lincoln's arms, who was now staring intently at the Goth girl in front of her, her arm slightly outstretched, making a pointing gesture at Lucy, while giving her a wide-eyed yet curious look, along with a smile- albeit not showing any signs of being perturbed as one might expect from a toddler.

Lincoln looked down at the little girl and smiled, playfully scratching the side of her head with his index finger.

"I guess she is" He replied to the girl in his arms, "But don't you think that's kind of rude to say hmm?" he jokingly inquired the young toddler.

"Spuu-key!". Was the toddler's reply, now in an even more high-pitched yet amused voice.

Meanwhile, Lucy had actually very slightly changed her, unfazed demeanor at the sound and sight of the little girl, even giving off a small, modest smile.

"It's fine, In fact It's what I usually go for anyway." Lucy replied referring to her look, as the little girl in front of her gave out a quick burst of giggles.

"It's pretty cool I'd say" Lincoln replied. "Although… maybe layoff on giving people heart-attacks?" he added, not particularly seriously.

"Old habits are hard to kill." Lucy retorted, implying that this wasn't the first time she had pulled her instant-transmission act.

"Heh, Right so… come here often?" Lincoln asked her, apparently consenting to a conversation.

The two, newly acquired acquaintances, both shared modest smirks with one another, all the while the little girl in Lincoln's arms looked around at both of them and everything in between - smiling the entire moment.

Lincoln and Lucy went on for several minutes - perhaps around 20 or so minutes conversing with each other, sharing with each other various pieces of information about themselves, things such as Lincoln being sixteen and Lucy revealing she was thirteen. A fact Lincoln kept fresh in his mind given the thought he almost had about her earlier. Admittedly Lucy was a slightly taller than the average thirteen-year old.

From there they continued on about their families, Lincoln telling Lucy about his Parents, his little sister, Lily, and his move and most of the reasons behind it, to a surprisingly intently listening Lucy. Of course Lincoln couldn't tell.

Lucy told him about her obvious interest in Gothic culture and other-worldly norms as well as her love for writing - especially poems. Then about her own parents, her mother being a bookkeeper and her father- very interestingly- being an archeologist, Prior to which he used to work at some university in Massachusetts. Currently he was on an expedition to Iceland or some such and it was just her and her mother for the summer, this was a fairly common thing however, her father being away on far along archeological expeditions, it didn't really bother her _much_ anymore, in fact she truly admired her father for his work. Sometimes he even brought along some trinkets to 'decorate' in the house.

After their conversation reached it's the end, and with the sun finally at its last moments for the day the two...now newly acquired friends… bid each other farewell. Lucy opting to stay around the roof for a while more, as she usually does and Lincoln deciding it would be time to mentally prepare himself a confrontation with his parents… He was supposed to help unpack after all…

"Have to admit, it was pretty nice meeting you, Luce" Lincoln spoke to her, as he stood ready to part off, apparently having given her a nickname. He was actually feeling pretty good right now, after talking with her, even a little energetic.

"Likewise" Lucy replied, her monotone voice showing some signs of expression… seemingly a pleasant expression.

Lincoln was about to turn away to head towards the Rooftop stairs, then towards the top floor, but before that Lucy spoke one last time.

"Your sister was pretty adorable as well." Lucy said pointing towards the little white-haired girl in Lincoln's arms. "Lily was her name, right?" she asked, inquiringly.

Lincoln's demeanor took a slight shift from being calm and happy to…. Slightly upset perhaps even…scornful? But only ever so slightly… it was a fairly modest shift - mostly due to Lincoln holding himself back. Lucy was able to barely notice it as well - although became very confused at the sight.

Lincoln turned slowly to her, looked at her with somewhat faded eyes before saying anything.

"She….She isn't Lily…" he spoke meekly. Lucy was about to Nod in acknowledgement before Lincoln continued to talk.

Gesturing towards the little girl in his arms with a smile Lincoln continued to speak;

"Her name is… **Lila.**" After which he paused briefly before continuing.

"And she's… She's my _Daughter._" Lincoln finished what he wanted to say.

A moment of pause ran through the air after.

Lucy was certainly… taken aback… but she had to intentions of wanting to come off as rude.

"Oh…" Lucy replied in a similarly meek voice. "I...didn't realize um.." she stopped short, unsure of what words to say.

Lincoln, however, simply gestured to her that it was Alright.

"It's fine. No way you could've known… I guess I didn't mention it." he said, now in his own monotone voice. "Anyway, Look… It was nice meeting you here and all, and maybe you can meet my little sister Lily some other time, but for now I gotta head back to my folks…. They're gonna be… thinking about me...heh yea." Lincoln added a half-hearted chuckle at the end.

"I see. Alright." Lucy replied, "It was a pleasure to meet you too, and your… daughter." she smiled warmly at both Lincoln and his little girl, Lila. "And I wouldn't mind meeting your little sister either." she added.

Lincoln gave a weak, fragile yet sincere enough smile and turn about to head off. He stopped however, for one last set of parting words.

"And uh… Stay safe up here… and with… your… ghost...friends... when you talk to them" he said so unsurely.

"Mhm. Duh." was Lucy's reply, saying in her usual monotone but a bit of playfulness.

Both waved each other a final goodbye, even Lila gave a rather wild wave to her "Spu-Key" friend. Lincoln walked away towards the stairs - his immediate destination being the elevator on the top floor.

Meanwhile Lucy simply sat down on the rooftop floor again, her mind now filled with further thoughts than it usually was. She had been fairly excited to meet the new boy moving into the apartment and did a pretty fantastic job at not showing it… but she certainly wasn't expecting such a ...unique…_ character development _about him.

She took out her thick, black journal and her pen, and starting writing away at whatever she was thinking of, her thoughts and words her own treasures for her eyes and mind.

Meanwhile, Lincoln slowly descended down the brief staircase onto the top floor, making his way towards the elevator, Lila, the little ball of energetic innocence, slowly calming herself down into a slumber…

After talking with Lucy, he had been rather, albeit not entirely, relieved him of some of his stress that was the mountain of thoughts in his mind- all in regards to his new situation around him- and for a bit that relief proved a bliss… but now a new avalanche of thoughts had crashed through his head… mainly of the jagged thoughts all so familiar to him.

The most prominent of these thoughts was one that he knew all too well. One that he smacked his brain against oh so many times, like it was some spiked mace.

"And Now I have to wonder…" Lincoln said to himself. "What"...

"What does _she _think of me?"

It was really surprisingly, all things considered, how… something so simple as Judgment from your fellow man could be so damningly eternal… even the gods themselves must wince at such a cruelly inflicted punishment…

He had a bad habit of worrying too much.

Lincoln sighed, stood in front of the elevator and pressed the button to call it. He then took a look at Lila, his little bun, she was happily and without a single worry slumbering away in his arms as if he were some pillar and epitome of invincibility.

Regardless of whatever anxiety and doubt tried to poison his mind right now, just as it always had before, No judgment from man or divine was going to get between Him and Lila.

He smiled at his daughter, as the elevator door opened, he walked into it slowly and pressed the button the floor where his new apartment was, only briefly looking away from his little girl.

He may not have be a Superhero… but he was a few things close if not stronger.

He was a good son…mostly…he'll have to check back on that...

He was a big brother to his little sister, Lily.

And He was a Father. To his little girl, Lila.

"And you know what…." Lincoln softly spoke to his slumbering toddler.

"I wouldn't trade it for the world." he said warmly and confidently as the elevator took them down to their floor. Lincoln, even with his worries still here, smiling all the way.

Although He wouldn't mind being a Kid, for a bit more, either…..

The Elevator made its way to Lincoln's floor, the Fourth floor, the middle floor of the eight floor apartment building. He exited when it came to a full stop and started to slowly make his way to his apartment, keeping the image of his parents waiting for him on the other side fresh in his mind

He stopped just outside the door and for a few moments stared blankly at it, after which he briefly looked down then towards Lila, carefully and slightly adjusting as she rested her head on his shoulder.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and took a heavy sigh, and finally knocked on the door - At this point it seemed as if the Judge of the Pearly Gates himself was awaiting him beyond it.

The door opened to Lincoln's father, Lynn who looked a tad bit tired, It didn't take much for Lincoln to guess why - his dad was never good with lifting around stuff.

Surprisingly enough, at least for Lincoln, Lynn popped a small and meek smile at the sight of his very young granddaughter nuzzling into his young son, although was still a little miffed at the latter.

"Back?" Lynn said, somewhat unenthusiastically and with a raised eyebrow.

"Yea, back… sorry about walking off but you knew I wouldn't be instant sunshine and rainbows on my first day here. I mean it's not a bad place but you know what I mean…" Not exactly a great defending argument, but he was honest.

A sigh by Lynn followed, and the man waved his son into the apartment.

"Your help would've been appreciated, we've unpacked most of the things, with Lily almost finished with her stuff." he explained, "Your mom and Lily unpacked some of your stuff, to get by for tonight as well as set up Lila's crib , they didn't touch much else because they, or rather Lily, insisted that we shouldn't 'mess' with your personal stuff." Lynn finished, while adding air quotes.

"Quite the little Swiss guard you've trained." He further added, referring to Lily and her unconditional loyalty to her brother - well, actually not entirely unconditional given how many times he had to piggyback carry her around, per day.

Lincoln chucked ever so slightly, before speaking himself,

"Yea well, good help is hard to find these days… But anyway, look dad, I'm sorry about storming off today, especially since you and mom needed my help and all, so how about I cook dinner for us tonight while you and mom relax for a bit?"

"Fair enough." Lynn replied, before continuing on.

"I get to critique your cooking, though." a sly smirk appearing on his face.

Lincoln looked at his father with a somewhat deadpan stare before replying,

"Yea, Yea sure whatever _Chef Gordon_" inciting a chuckle from his father.

"Where are mom and Lily, by the way?"

"Your mother is in the shower, while Lily's napping, believe it or not, she spent pretty much all of her energy, helping out with the boxes. I'll let her sleep for another hour or two then get her up for dinner." Lynn answered.

"Uh, right, well I guess I'll go put Lila down, freshen up and start with the cooking. _Spaghetti, Amico?"_

Lynn nodded in reply with another faint, but genuine smile, after which he went on to his business - specifically that of setting up the newly bought TV, while Lincoln headed towards his and his daughter's room - down the hall of the apartment at the very end.

"Lincoln." Lynn spoke, causing Lincoln to stop and turn around.

"Remember why we came here, son." he paused briefly while looking at Lincoln.

"The kind of opportunities your mom and I got don't just fly by every morning. These kinds of opportunities mean a good future for us. For you and Lily and for Lila."

Lincoln simply nodded, his father continuing his small speech.

"I know you don't like it right now, and I know it feels hard, leaving behind your close friends and all, but you need to try your best to adjust, I mean, there are worse things after all and we're not that far – you and they could still visit every now and then, and no one says you'll have to live here forever." Lynn paused for a moment.

"We, your mom and I, just wanted our kids to be happy in the future… as well as our granddaughter." Lynn gave yet another modest, yet sincere smile while looking at Lila, still burrowed into her own dad's neck.

Lincoln nodded again,

"I know dad, you're both good parents… I'll get used to it soon, You know I'll try my best, at least." Lincoln told him with sincerity.

"I know one day you'll end up completely taking up the mantle of being a father one day, but till then we can still help and support you. I hope you understand." Lynn replied.

The two simply gave one final nod to each other before going back to their own goals, Lincoln- admittedly now with a slight slither of guilt, walked past Lily's room and deciding to take a quick peak - she had impressively almost completely unpacked and set her things up. No wonder why she tuckered out on her bed.

Lincoln gave his calmly sleeping sister a smile and closed her door, continuing on his way to his room.

He ran into his mother, just coming out of the shower and gave her a somewhat weak greeting - now afraid of her reaction towards his abrupt absence from earlier.

"Oh, hey sweetie, feeling better?" Rita asked her son, perhaps with a slight bit of awkwardness in her voice.

"Uh yea mom…" Lincoln paused for a second, "I feel a little better now, yea. But I'm sorry about walking off - I'm gonna cook dinner tonight, the usual, while you and dad can rest up."

A small smile now coming onto Rita's face, growing slightly wider when she noticed the slumbering little toddler on her son's arm. Though she was still a little disappointed in Lincoln, only a little, but not upset.

"It's fine sweetie, I knew it'd be hard for you, with your friends and all, Just don't make us worry too much alright?"

"Yea alright, Sorry." Lincoln replied with meekness but sincerity.

"Now go and put Lila down in her crib, catch a break and make sure to clean yourself up before you start cooking!"

Rita instructed her son as she walked towards her and her husband's room, glancing over at her said husband, who was looking at a bundle of wires belonging to the television, as if they were the very incomprehensible veins of the universe's body.

She sighed and smiled and walked into her bedroom, Lincoln doing the same towards his.

Lincoln put his daughter down in her crib, carefully covered her with her favorite green colored blanket, and then sat down on his bed, looking around his room and at his many boxes - still to be unpacked, he knew he would have to get around to them tomorrow - at least it would be an excuse not to go outside for a while.

Lincoln thought back to meeting Lucy on the roof, there were plenty of things one could think about a person such as her, but Lincoln could only think of what _she_ thought of _him_. After he told her about Lila. First introductions have always been hard for him like that ever since…

Lincoln quickly shook those thoughts off. For now. He was always the over-thinking sort…

He took another look at his sleeping Lila, smiled and with a breath, went onto freshen up in the bathroom before starting his work in the kitchen.

The rest of the night went calmly enough, Lynn managed not to cause the expensive TV set to combust, and Lincoln cooked a very enjoyable dinner, As everyone started, Lily joined in, excited to see her brother again after several hours, getting a piggyback ride as recompense and then went excitedly on about how she was _very_ eager to resume her adventures in one of favorite video-games tomorrow, apparently she was close to a level-up for her already high-level character.

Everyone enjoyed their dinner, Lincoln receiving fair bit of praise for his cooking with his father ever so proud. Lincoln may not have been up to his father's skill but he was close enough.

After that everyone freshened up one last time, went on their way to sleep - it being a little past 10 PM, The parents went into their room, Lincoln and Lily shared a final hug and nuzzle before heading into theirs.

Lincoln finally laid down in his bed. Despite having skipped out on his part of the work, he still felt somewhat exhausted - he could only guess why.

Giving one last look to a still happily sleeping Lila, Lincoln yawned and dozed off into his own sleep. Admittedly it took a little while before said sleep finally caught him.

He dived into his dreams again, his dreams filled with Superheroes, aliens, various video game references and maybe some cliché and corny punch lines here and there.

All the things you'd expect in a kid's dream.

He knew he couldn't dream forever - not like this, He was sixteen and he had a daughter - alongside of being a big brother to his six year old sister

He knew he had to grow up. But now, with all the recent change, he had to first figure out where and how exactly he was now growing up.

And perhaps as well as who he'll be growing up with… or rather who Lila will be growing up with…

He just needed help with all that.

**XXXX**

**I'd appreciate pointing out any mistakes in the writing.**

**Thank you for for reading.**

**(edit: changed "first floor" to "top floor" where ever mentioned.)**

**(edit 2: fixed several types and made some slight adjustments.)**

**(edit 3: changed city name/location from Detroit to Great Lakes City from the show, see chap #3 for more details.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N's: In regards to who Lila's mother is, although I have the story for her mostly planned out, I'm still not sure to whom I should "Assign" that role (The mother) to. It could either one of the girls from the show (Besides the Loud sisters, of course.), a pre-established OC or I could just make an OC of my own. Admittedly, the former 2 options would hold more… Meaning, I guess.**

**I'll decide eventually, since I do intend to make the story behind Lila and her mother be **_**eventually**_** revealed.**

**(A little tidbit, Lucy's name initials, as shown in the last chapter, are "L.P.H" which in reverse is "H.P.L" – as in, H.P Lovecraft, Hence why I gave her the last name 'Howardson'. Yea, I'm funny like that.)**

**XXXX**

The night went by well enough, as somehow even the city's abyss of noises ended up dying down. Lincoln would awake himself twice in the night however, to check on Lila each time. An Instinctive habit at this point, though probably not the healthiest in regards to sleep. Lila was more important though.

Eventually day began to break and the city steadily came back to life. The sun started to rise and shine its light through Lincoln's bedroom window - his only means to help him get up, as he hadn't setup an alarm yet.

The sounds of the city came back to full volume, birds, dogs, cats along with garbage trucks, cars, a couple of sirens and some yelling, and more cars - in fact Lincoln may have vastly underestimated the amount of cars that existed in the universe, the most cars he remembers passing by his old neighborhood in a single day numbered probably less than a dozen.

There was also some incoherent screaming by someone in the streets about some government conspiracy about pigeons. But Lincoln, still groggily in slumber, just quite couldn't make it out exactly.

Eventually, Lincoln started to get up and start pulling him away from his dreams that helped him sleep and that helped him get away from some of his troubles in life…

Most of the time.

_I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes…_

_I have to turn my head until my darkness goes…_

_I see a White door and I want it painted Black._

_I see people turn their heads and quickly look away…_

_Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ry day…_

_Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts…_

_I could not foresee this thing happening to you._

_No colors anymore..._

_I see a White door and I want it painted Black._

Lincoln hadn't realized, but he was already up and sitting on his bed.

Lincoln snapped out of his… trance. His eyes reached their maximum length as he momentarily widened them. He took a deep breath and brought himself back to reality.

His Imagination always got the better of him.

Lincoln yawned and looked around his still relatively barren room - the boxes containing his things still pushed off to the side of the walls, he knew he'd have to unpack them today, but he wasn't complaining.

Checking the time, he saw that it was 06:03 AM, a little later than he would usually wake up but he figured he could be lax about it for now.

Lincoln then turned his head to his daughter, Lila, and a familiar smile adorned his face again. One his needed right now.

Lila, now hugging her blanket as if for dear life, was still slumbering away. She would wake soon enough though; she had been sleeping for quite a while now. It was a bit of a blessing that she was a heavy sleeper, though Gods forbid if she woke up in the middle of her sleep, worse fate still, if she were to be awakened during her sleep.

Maintaining his faint smile, Lincoln got up - did his morning stretches and made his bed. He was hoping to get ready quick, before Lila woke up.

After finishing with his bed, he glanced over at the lamp table next to his bed and a saw a rectangular, orange object. His phone. Bought last Christmas.

He realized he hadn't seen the thing since he walked off to the roof yesterday, and he hadn't called or texted any of his friends. To be fair, he didn't really want to- he wasn't in the best mood and was for one reason or another somewhat nervous.

He knew it wasn't fair to his friends but he didn't want to end up being rude to any of them. Of course he ended up talking to Lucy just fine, someone he didn't even know till yesterday. Maybe it was the near-death experience he had when she sneaked up on him that mellowed him out.

Sighing, Lincoln then slowly realized that he didn't remember receiving any phones and texts, either. At least, not before he went to the roof and he hadn't checked his phone when he got back either. Maybe he received some while he was on the roof?

"Oh good, they moved on quick." He jokingly said out loud, to no one in particular but himself, but with only a faint trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Lincoln picked up his phone and pressed the power button - to no avail. He then pressed the home button but the device still only showed him a black screen.

It was out of battery.

Duh. During the last leg of the drive to Great Lakes City, he had spent most of the battery life playing some game where the player runs away from a giant, crushing boulder made from candy. It really shouldn't have been as entertaining as it turned out to be. Lincoln loved video-games and all but phone games weren't his thing - heck, phones weren't even his thing.

Although he had heard of people who spent nigh onto forever on them, He personally hadn't met, or could even imagine, anyone who could spend more then maybe fifteen or so minutes on the thing.

With a roll of his eyes and some mild annoyance he went about plugging it in and let it charge, though still not bothering to turn it on. He could wait.

Taking another glance at his little girl and readjusting his modest smile, he went towards to door to leave, so to do his business in the bathroom. As quickly as he could.

He entered the bathroom, which was to the immediate right of him when exiting his room, to his left slightly further up was Lily's room. Down the hall were the other rooms, His parent's room and a small closet towards his right, and a second, smaller bathroom as well as a small guest room next it, both to his left. All leading down to the living room, kitchen and the front door.

It was a spacious enough apartment, not luxury but around upper-middle class, one could say.

Lincoln opened the door to the bathroom on his right and went in, turning on the lights inside.

It was a decent sized bathroom, you could probably get away with squeezing in 6 or 7 people in here, although Lincoln wasn't sure what the context of a situation like that would be. Towards the end was a big enough bathtub, a shower head with a hose, besides that there was an average sink and mirror.

Meanwhile, toilet was made into a nook in the wall, where one could pull a small curtain at the side facing the door, to ensure some last-ditch privacy in case of any "wandering" accidents. Like the one with Lily a year ago.

Lincoln walked towards the sink, opened the tab and splashed his face with water and then stared into the mirror as if to see if any cosmological change had befallen him.

His hair was still pure white, still somewhat long. Going down to the back of his neck but not entirely, just a little lower than halfway. As he preferred it. Along with this he had his short side bangs, which went down his cheeks, stopping just before hitting his jaw line. His long-standing cow-lick was still there, though far less noticeable than it used to be when he was younger.

He wasn't going for any particular look, just something that looked good enough.

His freckles on his face were almost gone, one or two very faded ones remained.

His slightly chipped front tooth was all the same. He should probably consider getting that filled or something when he gets older. At least it didn't stick out his mouth like when he was younger.

Lincoln wanted to say a witty remark to his mirror self, but could only let out a disappointed sigh. With another heavy breath he took one last long look at himself.

He noticed the bags under his eyes, they used to be quite worse than they are now, but he had started getting some normal amount of sleep since last year and they had faded somewhat. Though for the last few months they had stayed the same. He assumed sleep would only help him so far.

As to why they had been even worse prior, Lincoln had a few reasons - namely Lila.

He didn't care though, if she needed him, she needed him. He appreciated any help with her but in the end, she was his daughter, his responsibility and she was his….

Lincoln stopped his train of thought, before he could start to regret it.

After a pause, he continued with his morning shower business, brushing his teeth, using the toilet and finally, the shower.

He stepped towards the shower, almost in an automated, emotionless manner he took off his clothes and stepped in, stroking his fingers across his hair on the top of his head, he let the bliss of hot water raining down clear his mind.

He hoped.

He eventually stepped out of the bathroom, his clothes a little wet. He had spent a little over 20 minutes in there, although the shower felt like it went on for hours.

Going back to his room, he changed his clothes quickly, a slightly loose, plain army-green, short sleeved shirt, followed by underwear, grey jeans with white socks and orange sneakers.

He wanted to keep it rather simple; it wasn't like he was going on a date or something.

Just as he was about to finish up he suddenly heard faint and familiar crying coming from behind him, snapping his head back as fast as a bird of prey, he turned back to see that Lila had finally woken up. It was very likely she was hungry, after all the time she spent sleeping.

For the first few seconds Lincoln stood frozen, before walking towards Lila's crib in a very brisk pace, fighting off the urge to sprint there instead.

He got to her, carefully picked her up and softly cooed at her to calm her down, it took several seconds but she stopped her crying, although still faintly whimpering with somewhat watery eyes looking straight at her father.

"Still not a morning person, huh Bun?" he playfully inquired the toddler, receiving some slightly distraught but calm mumbling in reply.

"Tu-Tummy" Lila added, gesturing towards her stomach by rubbing it.

"I know, Cotton, but let's first get you prepped up a little first" with a soft kiss on her forehead, causing a modest smile to appear on Lila's head, Lincoln went on to fix up her hair and followed by changing her diaper - regardless if he needed to or not, he figured it had been since yesterday so he a fresh one would be a good idea. Thankfully, helping raised Lily her first few years gave him more than enough experience to handle this properly.

Lincoln lastly adjusted Lila's clothes- but didn't bother to change them as he decided he'll give her a bath later and then do it.

After all that was settled Lincoln stepped of his room, Lila on his arms with her head buried by the side on his chest. She had a small smile on her, although she was indeed very much hungry.

Walking down the hall towards the kitchen, Lincoln ended up running into his mother who was just exiting her bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She took notice of her son and her granddaughter and adorned a sincere, pleasant smile of her own as she waved them morning.

"Morning dear, and Morning to you too, sweetie-bun~" Rita softly spoke to Lincoln and Lila, respectively.

Lila replied with some soft giggles, while Lincoln gave a warm smile before speaking; "Morning mom, I got up a little while ago and finished getting ready, was about to go feed Lila. You sleep well?"

"Mhmm" was Rita's reply as she nodded.

Lincoln then glanced down the slightly open bedroom door of his parent's room, at his mother's side, and saw his father, Lynn, still out like a rock, presumably still tired from yesterday.

Lincoln blinked for a moment before turning to his mother; "Jeez, dad still out?" receiving a nod his mother, he spoke again; "Yikes, I know he isn't a strongman but it's not like he was up building a huge wall or something… It was just…"

"It was a lot of stuff and boxes, Lincoln." Rita spoke with a sigh, while also interrupting her son. After a pause she continued; "Plus, it was also the drive- your father isn't used to long drives like that, though I guess none of us are. Combined that with all the lugging and carrying… Your father isn't that young anymore."

A similar trickle of guilt, same as last night, went down Lincoln's spine again as he looked down at the floor. Thankfully, he was knocked out of his stupor by a small nuzzle of Lila's head into his chest, bringing back a smile small on both him and his mother.

Following a brief pause, a door opened behind them, soon enough followed by a slow walking Lily, still rubbing her eyes while holding her own "Bun" - that is to say, Bun-Bun - her little stuffed-toy bunny, as well as her favorite toy, formerly her brother's.

Looking at her mother, brother, and young niece, she greeted them while still maintaining a facade of a freshly-awakened, young, adorable little zombie.

"Morning" she said, with a long yawn and stretch at the end.

A smile returning to both Rita and Lincoln, they greeted back at the little girl;

"Aw, Morning there sweetie~" Rita spoke with a bit of cheerfulness.

"Up and at 'em Lil'Bug." Lincoln softly giving off a two finger salute.

"Lil!" Lila softly cried out lastly, with apparent excitement.

As Lily smiled back at all three of them, Lincoln turned back to his mother to speak some more; "Well uh, mom, I was gonna go feed Lila… Do you want me to make breakfast for everyone?"

Rita gave a warm smile to her son, sure he made his mistakes here and there, but he did try to make it up each time. Nobody's perfect.

"Its fine sweetie, just make yourself, Lily and Lila breakfast, I'll handle mine and your father's." she paused for a second before she looked at Lily and spoke;

"Lily honey, I'm gonna use the bathroom on the left to freshen up, you don't mind taking the other one, do you?"

The still somewhat tired Six-year old, still adorning a smile nodded and started walking down the hall to the smaller bathroom, she stopped however as Lincoln ruffled her hair as she passed him, while gesturing her to stay for a moment.

Rita meanwhile took one last look at her husband through the door of their room; he was still essentially knocked out. After a few moments she started hearing him mumble, out of curiosity she leaned through the doorway to see if she could make out what he was saying.

Although at first little more than soft grunts and snores, the sleep-talking Lynn eventually started making...some...sense…

"Ung…..uh….no...no..not the Celery...anything but the Celery….gah….uh…Crabs...buh….we….agah…..health inspector...we…..ah...need to hide him…...uuuh…how are we breathing underwat-..."

Lynn didn't quite finish the last sentence in his sleep-driven episode, after which there was a momentary pause and then suddenly a wide smile adorned his face. All the while he lay still as a dead horse.

Rita blinked several times, and stood in the doorway for a little over 15-seconds, her face looking as if she had just transcended omnipotence and then descended back to mortality.

She leaned back from the doorway eventually, closed the door and then just simply shrugged. She smiled at her two children and granddaughter and made her way towards and then into the bathroom down the hall.

Although a little confused themselves, both Lincoln and Lily simply shrugged as well, while Lila continued softly nuzzling into her father's chest.

Lincoln then turned his head to Lily before speaking;

"So, Lilster, excited about going back to your game today?"

Within that moment, any grogginess or tiredness vanished from Lily's face, replaced entirely by a bright, wide grin showing off her front bucktooth and her face itself showing a fresh aura of excitement and brightness.

"You better believe it! I mean, I'm finally gonna hit level 65, then finish up that Assassin-Hood quest line!" Lily spoke loud and excited, before she paused suddenly, as if coming to a realization.

"That means…. That means I'll finally get the huge bounty payoff for killing the emperor!"

Before anything else could be said, Lily made a beeline for the bathroom up the hall, but then suddenly made a 180 degree turn, and returned back to her brother. Stopping in front of him she looked up at a smiling Lila in his arms.

Lincoln simply smiled and brought Lila down to Lily's height all the while firmly holding onto his baby girl.

"Lee-Lee!" The toddler squeed happily.

Lily's grin only widened even more and her so did her energetic aura around her, she gave her little niece a kiss on the cheek and just like that, bolted back to the door of the bathroom. Needless to say, she loved being an auntie.

She also either really wanted that level up for her videogame character or that bounty payoff. Or maybe she was just excited to kill the emperor guy.

Settling Lila back into his chest, Lincoln simply gave a soft sigh and a slight roll of the eyes, once again thanking the gods his parents weren't up-to-date on video-game age rating standards. He himself would have missed out on a lot of fun games growing up if they had just known...

Lincoln turned towards the living room and started walking down the hall, turning to the right and taking a few steps he was now inside the kitchen, it being separate from the living room by a counter that served as the dining table and also as a low wall of sorts. The apartment came with a few dining chairs, enough for the family but Lynn and Rita made a note to go out and buy some more comfortable ones.

The Kitchen had everything one would expect, Stove, oven, sink, and a couple of empty counters - a small window behind one of them, Kitchen cabinets both above and below. Lastly, a fairly large fridge that came with the apartment left of the entrance of the kitchen. The overall space inside the kitchen wasn't much however; maybe you could squeeze in three, four people at absolute most.

Lincoln put Lila down in her baby-chair next to the eating counter, and decided on the breakfast for himself, his daughter and his sister.

A couple of minutes later he decided he'd make himself a few, simple ham sandwiches and an apple-puree for Lila, as for Lily, he first instinctively opened one of the top cabinets of the kitchen, only to remember that newly-bought apartments do not in fact, come with pre-stocked cereal. He decided to make her eggs and bacon instead, throwing in a couple of glasses of juice for both of them.

Soon enough Lily came out of the bathroom, and sat herself up on the counter next to Lila, playing with and helping her niece eat her food, as Lincoln had made Lila's apple sauce first.

Lincoln finished cooking his and Lily's breakfasts, He didn't really do anything fancy with them, he was fairly good at cooking but he left the passion aspect of it to his father.

As the three started eating, Rita came out of the bathroom, waved and smiled at each of them and then entered back into her room with Lynn, a look of slight worry and confusion appearing on her at the last moment, for whatever reason, as she stared and went inside with a sigh.

As the three ate their food, Lila occasionally making a bit of a mess on her face followed by either Lily or Lincoln cleaning it up, though neither seemed to mind, Lincoln turned to his little sister, wanting to talk;

"So Lily, after you kill off the emperor and finish your, uh, Assassin's quest, will you be done with the game?" he inquired the six-year old, supposedly aspiring contract-for-hire killer.

"Huh? Of course not!" came her sudden response as she continued;

"I still have one whole huge DLC questline to complete!" she paused for a moment before continuing again; "It's a long one… though I guess I'm not sure after that."

Lincoln rolled his eyes with a small smirk, as the two continued discussing about Lily's planned virtual adventures, apparently the aforementioned DLC quest line involves traveling to a whole different island with giant mushrooms dotting it, while looking for 8 dark and magical books with the help of a semi-sociopathic sorcerer, all the while a now happy and full Lila looked on.

Eventually however, Lincoln shifted the topic of discussion to one related to real life;

"So Lily… After summer is over this time, you'll finally be starting school, are you still feeling nervous?" Lincoln calmly asked his little sister.

The energy and smile on Lily's face slightly faded, and she made a quick to the floor before looking at her brother again, fidgeting a little, she eventually spoke;

"Yea I guess… a lot less nervous than before… I mean I guess moving to the city doesn't matter, since it'll be my first time in school but… I guess I was more … comfortable with the idea back home?" Lily finished, the uncertainty in her voice being obvious, and seemingly unsure if the words she spoke properly conveyed what she felt.

Lincoln simply smiled back, with a comforting look in his eyes and after a few seconds replied to her;

"It's gonna be fine Lil'bug, your feeling like that because back home is where you grew up so it's alright to feel… kind of weirded out here…, just remember that school is pretty much the same anywhere and I'm sure mom and dad will put you in a good one, plus it's only the first grade, it won't be anywhere near hard for you, you've always been pretty smart - I'd say smarter than most kids your age." He paused to give a reassuring smile to her, Lily returning a modest one in kind.

Lincoln continued after a couple of seconds; "I figure you'll be Acing lessons that you'll probably end up getting bored there, but I'm sure you'll be making mom and dad proud by bringing home plenty of A's" There was a brief pause as Lincoln briefly looked down at the floor before darting his eyes back to Lily's before speaking again; "And I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends there too, just uh, be careful, okay?"

Lily simply nodded and smiled wider, her nervousness almost entirely washed away, for the moment.

After a brief moment she got up from her dining chair and simply hugged her brother, burying her head into his stomach, to which Lincoln simply gave her a few head pats.

"Thanks Linky" Lily spoke softly; "I'll try… but hey, are you gonna make some friends at your new school too?"

Lincoln's smile slightly wavered slightly and he darted his eyes again to the side, before looking back down at Lily; "Uh yea….I'll try." after which a slight smirk started to appear on his face before speaking again; "And you still have to clean your dishes"

"Dang it." was the deadpan reply the little blonde gave to her brother, with a giggling Lila observing the scene.

After that, they dispersed, cleaned and put away their dishes and went about their day.

Lily of course, finally sat on the couch and started the game she had been so longing to continue, with a very wide and toothy smile.

Eventually both parents came out of their room, giving another of greetings to the kids and fixed and ate their breakfasts.

Among the small talk they had, Lynn made a mention of a sudden and spontaneous apprehension towards burgers, fishes, crustaceans, and sponges. He did not give any proper explanation as to why to his very much confused family, however.

After their breakfasts and cleaning their plates the parents went back to their room, likely to further plan and schedule things for their ongoing 'settling-in', they only had roughly 2 weeks before they started their new jobs.

Lincoln meanwhile did whatever he could to pass the time; either playing with Lila, watching Lily play her game, with Lila watching along as well. Besides that he would be watching TV when Lily took breaks during her gaming session. He even decided to do a little cleaning here and there, anything to help distract him.

Eventually after a while, Lincoln headed back to his room, leaving an intently-looking Lila beside her aunt as Lily continued her game with an unwavering face of excitement and focus.

Lincoln couldn't help but think how much Lily was enjoying playing an assassin character. Honestly, a six-year old should not be this into, or this proficient in the profession of murdering people from behind, even if it is a video game. Sure that wide grin she's had while playing the game for several hours was cute and all at first but now it was getting considerably unnerving.

Lincoln stared back blankly at his little sister before finally letting out a chuckle before continuing his walk back to his room.

Entering, he unplugged his charging phone, now full battery as it showed. He however turned to his still unpacked boxes and put the still powered-off phone back down, deciding now was the time sort his things out.

After a couple of hours, Lincoln had unpacked and setup most of things minus his drawing supplies, he needed a proper desk for those and his parents had decided to leave his old one, along with a few other 'heavy' furniture behind, promising him that they'll buy him a new one.

Lincoln gave a slight smirk at the memory, as he agreed but told them he'd be picking a better and bigger one than his old one, if he was going to get a new one it might as well be an upgrade. The memory of the slight wince they both gave making his smirk grow slightly wider.

"Honestly, you'd think I'd told them that I was gonna buy a desk made out of diamond or something, as if that would boost my efficiency… that'd be kinda cool though." He said to himself, seemingly.

"You'd think all this talk about better jobs would make them a little more… giving but honestly, even now…. It's like their managing a budget for a family of dozen or something."

A sudden shiver went down Lincoln's spine, as he shuddered at the very concept of such a family life.

Lincoln turned to his fully charged, but still off phone again and stared at it for a few seconds, before he could do anything else however he heard his father call him from outside his room, after which he went to see what he needed.

Walking back into the living he saw his father and his little sister standing to left, in front of the apartment's door looking ready to go outside, meanwhile little Lila being looked after by his mother.

"You guys headin' out?" Lincoln asked his father.

"Mhm" Lynn replied and then continued; "I'm wanting to show Lily around the city park and any other sights that catch our eye, after that we'll be stocking up on groceries, mostly for kitchen."

"Like Cereal" Lily chimed in.

"Yea like cereal" Lynn replied to his daughter with a slight roll of his eyes and a hint of sarcasm as well.

"We'll be back by around say… 8:30 I think."

Lincoln simply nodded before turning his attention to his little sister and speaking; "So you enjoy your game I take it?"

With yet another wide smile Lily gave out her reply; "Heck yea! Got my level up, took care of the emperor, finished the Assassin-Hood quest, got a 50,000 gold piece bounty and even got a whole new Assassin's Lair as a home!" She paused briefly showing off the smug and pride on her face as she listed off her newly added accolades.

"Gonna wait a day or two to gather up some energy and start then DLC quest about the magical books, almost can't wait!" she further added, not a drop in her excited demeanor.

Lynn simply looked confused and perhaps slightly dazed, As if he was listening to some foreign language but eventually got some assurance from Lincoln that Lily was simply happy about her video-game, to which Lynn simply nodded with a smile and gave Lily congratulations. Even if he had pretty much no idea what she just talked about.

A minute later Lily and her father went out for their little tour and shopping in the city, giving their farewells to Lincoln, Rita and Lila, all of which replied in kind, with Lila's goodbye consisting of her waving both her hands wildly.

Lincoln simply went on the couch to pass the time on the T.V while his mother sat on a sofa chair to his right side, carrying Lila on her arm while reading one of her favorite novels.

A short while went by as Lincoln watched whatever was on the television, making a quick glance towards the clock on that wall, the time being 04:03 in the late afternoon.

"Lincoln" Rita suddenly spoke, causing her son to turn his head towards her as she continued; "Since your father and Lily went to look around town, why don't you go take a walk as well? You know, get familiar with the streets and sights… You don't have to go far, and not for long either, Maybe two or three hours at most." She said with the sincere kindness one would expect from a mother.

Lincoln briefly considered his mother's request, then taking a quick glance at his daughter in her arms before replying. He knew his mom had a point, but still...

"I uh… I have to give Lila a bath."

"Lincoln, I can give Lila a bath perfectly fine." Rita replied with a somewhat unimpressed look at her son, a smirk appearing on her face as she went on to speak again; "And If you doubt that, I can pull out the album with the pictures of me giving you a bath…. You really did hop around like a rabbit."

Lincoln shot his mother a slightly disdainful look, pursed lips and narrow eyes while she simply continued to give a satisfied smirk.

She softened a moment later before further speaking to her son; "Lincoln, You're not going to move on by just staying up here… I know you still haven't entirely accepted the idea, but this is your, our, new home now and you need to start getting to know your way around…. summer won't last forever for you to use as an excuse stay in, either." she finished, giving her son a hopeful smile.

Lincoln's look softened as well, he tilted his head to the side and rolled his eyes, giving out a soft sigh before giving his reply; "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No." was his mother's swift, rather cold reply.

With another sigh, Lincoln agreed to his mother's request for him to do some exploring of the city block, as he got up he went up to his mother and Lila, giving Lila a playful rub on her belly, causing her to let out some soft laughter.

Lincoln went ahead to freshen up first with a quick shower after which he grabbed his old, slightly worn white and orange-striped bomber jacket from his room and then headed towards the front door, his mother cheerfully giving him a wad of dollars for him to spend if he wanted while outside, Lincoln replied with a faint, sarcastic smirk.

"Remember sweetie, familiarize yourself, not too far, not too long and above all else stay safe." Said Rita, giving her son last-minute instructions.

"If you want me to be safe, then why not just let me stay?" Lincoln retorted with obvious sly.

"Lincoln." was his mother's stern response, following which he gave his mother a 'calm-down' gesture and headed towards the front door.

Lincoln stood in front of the door with his mother standing behind him, still holding Lila, before venturing out however; Lincoln took a hold of a half-sleepy Lila wanting to give his daughter one last soft hug.

Pulling her away after the hug, he held her steady in her arms and took in his little girl's features, just like he had what felt like an infinite amount of times before.

She had his white hair, obviously. She had inherited his freckles and even his front tooth. Minus the chipped part.

Lincoln started rubbing his tongue against the chip on his own tooth and started reminiscing on its origins. Yea, that was the last time he'd ride down a staircase railing. Why did he think that was ever a good idea?

He then set his eyes upon hers, taking in every detail...they were big, full of life and you couldn't find a single shred of stress or woe in them…. they looked... familiar.

Lincoln tried to fight it, using all the internal willpower that he could muster without changing his demeanor.

His left eye twitched rapidly and almost profoundly. Thankfully neither Lila nor his mother took notice.

In the end, He couldn't stop it. Never could.

_No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue…_

"_Lila… you have her eyes…."_

_It's not easy facin' up, when your whole world is black._

"_She's just as beautiful as…"_

_With flowers and my love…_

"_Beautiful as her…."_

_Both never to come back._

It stopped after a few, seemingly eternal seconds. Just like always.

Still maintaining a small smile he put Lila back in his mother's arms gave a quick kiss on the cheek to both of them and with a final farewell exited the apartment, taking one final, quick glance at the clock and seeing that it was 4:25 as he left.

Lincoln, with his smile now gone, stood outside the door of his apartment for several seconds; he took a quick glance towards the elevator then just stared blankly upwards.

Tilting his head back and closing his eyes, he let out a long sigh, after which he started to rearrange his thoughts before continuing on.

"_I really wish I had a cig-"_

He then heard a door loudly open to his left, followed by a voice.

"Alright mom, I'm headin' out for some B-Ball! I'll be back before, uh, 9!"

A female voice, Lincoln realized as he slowly started to turn his head.

"And don't bother with dinner; I'll be eating a few Subs on the way home!"

With the sound of the door closing, Lincoln turned to see a girl, who then quickly looked straight at him. Both of them almost instantly looking intently at each other.

They had seen each other before, yesterday, when Lincoln and his parents were still moving into the apartment, she looked like she was heading out for the jog or something, from what she was wearing.

They'd only shared a passing glance; he didn't really get her name…

She was a brunette, a short ponytail behind her, wearing a red and white jersey with red shorts that covered her thighs and stopped before her knees. She had what looked like sports sneakers on and was also holding a basketball. And she was shorter than him.

Lincoln couldn't help but notice the freckles on her face, more noticeable than his faded ones.

He couldn't help but notice…

"She's kinda cu-"

_Oh for Christ's sake, Lincoln._

**XXXXX**

**(The song lyrics used are from "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones. I slightly changed them however; where I wrote 'White Door', it is 'Red Door' in the actual song.)**

**A/Ns : Yea, I know this chapter was 'uneventful' but my mind really just wanted to build some… substance around Lincoln and his family, especially since it's an AU rather than the Cannon setting. Sure, I could go straight to making the girls jump on top of him because he's a dreamy teen daddy by the fourth or fifth paragraph but eh….**

**None the less, if you found this chapter boring then I sincerely apologize, but with it off my head, the next few chapters are going to involve revealing the remaining Loud Sisters (I mean they're not the Loud sisters in this story but, uh….), and thus those chapters should be a bit more….Zesty. Yea. Additionally, I plan on releasing the next chapter (Chap. 3) soon after this (hopefully), since I originally planned for this and 3 to be a single chapter.**

**And Yea, I tend to be exposition heavy. Blame Lovecraft as an early influence. Not going for an excuse but it's been a hard habit to kick off ever since.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N's : I decided to go back to chapter one and change the city name and location from Detroit to 'Great Lakes City' which is the fictional one in the show. I might need to watch those Casagrandes episodes though, since they supposedly reveal more about the city.**

**This change doesn't really have any significant bearing on the story, I just figured that since Great Lakes was a fictional city it would give me more…**

**Creative freedom, I guess.**

**And I have no issues with making any of the girls and or Lincoln's friends make an appearance, just as so long as it makes sense for them too.**

(And Yes, I did in fact make a reference to Spongebob last chapter.)

**XXXXX**

"Soooo….."

Lincoln suddenly came out of his thoughts and looked directly ahead at the brunette, who was now talking to him.

"You're the new guy who moved in huh, Lucy told me about you. Cool hair." she continued as she casually pointed a finger towards him.

"Huh, uh, Yea thanks." Lincoln replied, still gathering his thoughts, but then quirked an eyebrow at the mention of the little Goth he met yesterday; "You know Lucy?"

"Duh." The girl said after which she extended her arm towards the apartment door right of the one she had come out of, for Lincoln's facing it was to his left.

"Lucy and I are neighbors. Lived next to each other for about… Nine, almost ten years."

"We're close friends, at least as close as you can get with The Grand Duchess of Doom and Gloom." tilting her head and giving a casual shrug.

"And I guess now we're all Floor buddies" The brunette added, with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Lincoln simply nodded slowly and acknowledged, while also putting two and two together that just maybe his and Lucy's changed encounter may have not been entirely up to fate, so to speak.

"Name's Lincoln Loud, you?" He politely and casually asked the brunette.

"Lynn Claneson, and that's Lynn with a Y."

Lincoln blinked twice and raised an even higher eyebrow this time, making sure he heard her correctly.

"Your, uh, name's Lynn?" he asked, almost stupefied.

"Uh, yeah?" She spoke back, with her words slightly stretched.

"What? It's a three-letter name, not algebra. Got a problem?" She asked him somewhat accusingly.

"Funny coincidence, actually…. I'll tell you about it later. But no, no problem." Lincoln said to her meekly, to which she raised her eyebrow with some curiosity in her eyes.

Lynn calmed her posture, although eyebrow still raised.

"Okaaay Well…. It's nice meeting ya, Lincoln"

"Same." Lincoln paused for a moment as he took a glance at the basketball, proceeding to point at it.

"You play?"

Lynn took a quick look at her ball, then back at Lincoln with a smirk;

"Damn right, been playing pretty much all kinds of sports and working out since I was about nine. You?"

A faint smile of his own dawned on Lincoln as he replied to the now somewhat excited brunette;

"Mhm, Yea, I started basketball a little over 3 years ago, Tried out a few other sports too, but it was the only that managed to stick with me."

"Started playing it for... fun, I guess, when I was 13. After that I signed up for my High School team when I was 14, Ninth grade."

"Got any anything under your belt?" she asked, her smirk now a lopsided smile.

"Was Rookie of the Year in the tenth grade last year. The team won that season's game too, so we got gold to boot" he answered her with a modest smirk now of his own.

There was a sudden drop in his demeanor however, as he briefly looked down at the floor;

"I um…I did have to drop out of the team after a while when I first signed up… I needed to work on my grades, yea." He finished, rubbing the back of his neck, his voice being somewhat monotone.

Lynn's posture changed as well, as she couldn't help but feel a little bit suspicious at how Lincoln spoke his words, but she was snapped out of her thoughts soon enough; 

"You earn anything?" Lincoln suddenly asked her, to which Lynn cracked a wide, almost wicked grin at the white-haired boy in front of her;

"Oh I'd say I've gotten my share of...recognition." she spoke with obvious, intentionally filtered haughtiness in her words.

"Tell you what, I was gonna head to the B-ball court to play with my friends, since you say you can play, Mr. Rookie, why don't you come along and join me for a game or two? We can talk on the way there."

Lincoln thought about it for a little while. He does have to go around the city and seemed to be enjoying the sporty brunette's company, so far. And he wouldn't mind playing his favorite, and honestly his only sport. Plus her name gave him a good chuckle internally.

"Alright, sure. Why not." was Lincoln's firm reply, after a mutual nod by both him and Lynn, he went towards the elevator, only to be stopped by Lynn, who shook her head and then took him by the hand towards the stairs. Call it a hunch, but Lincoln help couldn't but feel like she was the demanding sort…

As the pair descended down the stairs, Lynn explained that she almost always took the stairs over the elevator, as it served as a quick exercise for her, she would sometimes even do 'Jogs' up and down the entirety of the building.

Lincoln made the counter-argument that always using the stairs was a 'waste of energy when she didn't have to', but Lynn didn't budge. In the end, Lincoln gave into admitting that there was a kernel of logic in her exercise philosophy.

Although her jumping off an entire flight of stairs was still something he didn't quite get, though.

It was when they were walking close together down the stairs that Lincoln took more notice of the height difference between the two; he stood at 5'11 while Lynn must've been around… 5'5? 5'6? He couldn't really tell, and he figured it would've been rude to ask.

It did end up catching him off guard when she revealed she was 15, though.

Lincoln did finally tell her that she shared the same name as his father; much to Lynn's mixed reaction. He also offered that, to avoid any confusion, he could refer to her as 'Lynnie.'

Lynn calmly informed him that calling her by that nickname would only result in his severed head being wrapped in a plastic bag and used as a basketball by her. Lincoln decided it was best to pursue this matter at a later date.

As the two entered the building's lobby and made their way outside, Lynn directed them to take a left and both started making their way to where Lynn's usual the basketball court was, Lynn at first sprinted her way, stating that's how she usually goes around, but Lincoln insisted to take a slower pace since he needed to familiarize with city. It was only his second day here, after all.

As they made their way, at a steady pace much to Lynn's displeasure, Lincoln took in his surroundings and passively made a mental map of the route he took, lest he end up getting lost like in the city like the plot of some rather corny baby- er, kid's movie. One thing Lincoln had to admit about the city was the convenience of all the shops being nearby, right outside where one would live.

Lincoln also took notice of the fact that the residential area in which they lived was between the commercial and office areas as well, meaning it was certainly one of the better parts of town.

After about a 20 or so minute walk with some small talk here and there, Lincoln and Lynn eventually started arriving in view of the basketball court, with Lynn making a very pronounced statement they would've arrived much sooner had Lincoln simply ran with her, with Lincoln casually retorting that, "If you can sit instead of stand, sit. If you can walk instead of run, walk." Lynn only stuck out her tongue as a response, while they continued talking.

"So your dad was a cop?" Lincoln asked Lynn with a sort of excited curiosity.

"Yup. He served for a while; his last call was about some weird domestic disturbance at an office-party during Christmas, back in L.A, He says it turned pretty nasty but never gives any details." Lynn explained, while holding her basketball in both her hands, as if preparing to shoot.

"He retired a short while after that, a bit later we moved here. I was about 4 I think."

Lincoln nodded in acknowledgment as he slowly turned to look around the basketball court and its surroundings.

It was actually two, regular-sized basketball courts, separated by their fences –Lincoln had been to a city basketball court before, a hand full of times, but he preferred the one in the park of his home town, where it was spacious and in the open with fresh air. There was also a significantly less change of accidentally throwing a ball through someone's window and then getting sued for an exaggerated sum of money. But, eh, he'll have to make do with city life.

One of the courts was filled with a few kids and teens already playing a game, while the other was empty. Although Lincoln figured he and Lynn would be joining those already present, she instead directed him towards the empty court instead. He reminded her that she said she wanted to play with her friends, but only received a head shake from Lynn.

"Alright." Lynn spoke as they both now stood in the middle of the vacant basketball court;

"I wanna see what you got, Mister Rookie of the year." She paused and smirked as she did a stare down with Lincoln, who had a neutral expression on him, while she let out an eager, yet determined grin.

"You and me, one on one, first to 55 points."

Lincoln stood there, for several seconds with an almost uninterested expression, until eventually, he smirked wide.

"You're on."

Eventually, what was supposed to be just a 'friendly' game turned into a very competitive duel of attrition and momentary stalemates.

Lincoln proved to be an extremely good defensive player, while Lynn seemingly preferred to actively stay on the offense.

This led to long periods of time where neither of them could get a good shot off, effectively stalemating, resulting in many hail-Mary shots out of pure desperation, something Lynn couldn't believe she had to resort to, with Lincoln not being much satisfied with the forced-prospect either.

Lynn had the better conditioning and experience of years over Lincoln, in particular on how she managed to keep the ball in possession despite how much speed she picked up.

Despite that, Lincoln proved himself to have superb stamina and endurance, on par if not at least slightly better than Lynn's. Something that caught her very much off guard.

In the end, after over an hour of what had been essentially the basketball equivalent of trench warfare, It came to an end.

The two opponents stood in front of each other, a few feet in between them. Sweating, panting, slightly hunched over, but each sharing a stern look at another.

"…..Lynn-sanity wins." Were the whispered, almost cold words that came from Lynn's mouth, heard by her white-haired foe in front of her.

Lincoln looked on for a few moments, his stern face unwavering, until eventually he started letting out a small smile.

"_I guess she's a fan of Jeremy Lin?... Oh wait she means her name, 'Lynn-sanity'…heh" _a quick thought went by in his head, after which he took his turn to reply;

"Good game."

Lincoln straightened himself up, wiped some sweat off his face and then simply extended his right arm towards the sporty-tomboy, to which Lynn adjusted herself as well, and then extender her arm to meet with his.

"Not bad, Rookie. I had great fun."

Thus the two shook their hands out of mutual respect, Lincoln giving congratulation to Lynn.

She had indeed won the long-struggle. By 6 points.

Lincoln may not have realized this, but for Lynn this was significant. Whether it was a regular sized game, out here or in school, or whether it was a One-on-One or Two-on-Two et cetera, Lynn had always won those games with wide margins, sometimes as wide as 40 points.

But here she was, she had just had her closet victory, her closet lost and certainly one of her most hard-fought games in a very long while. All against a boy who hasn't even been living in her city for more than two days. A boy she didn't even know till today. A boy that was tall. A boy that looked like he had some decent muscle as seen through his sweaty green shirt, she had more well toned muscles, but she could still appreciate. Plus, he _did _have cool hair.

She had just had her best game of basketball in almost a year against a boy that…that…

Lynn's train of thought had to be cut off, as she started feeling odd. She started feeling as if... As if she had…

Lynn. Lynn Claneson. _The_ Jock. The winner of several dozen trophies and ribbons in sports. The girl that never even so much as blinked at the imposing odds she would face in her games. The girl who wouldn't even drop a single sweat in the face of a large crowd, even if perhaps she could be a little nervous.

And she had butterflies in her stomach.

"_I… Must be hungry, yea, I need those subs…. I wonder if he'll…"_

Lynn came out of her daze, shook her head and re-focused her attention to Lincoln who stood still in front of her, looking slightly worried.

"Hey so uh, since… since that was a…a pretty long game… You uh… you wanna go grab a bite to eat? I mean uh… I don't know about you but, um… my engine's running on empty! Heh… "Lynn tried hard to control the stutter in her words, despite not knowing why she was stuttering in the first place.

"You think anyone will let us in with how we smell right now?" Lincoln gestured towards the sweat stains on both his and Lynn's clothes.

"It's the city, Lincoln, offer enough money and pretty much anyone will spread they're…. doors for you. " Lynn answered, a sly smile coming off from her at the end.

The innuendo was not lost on Lincoln, even if it did come straight out of left field.

Eventually, after a few moments which involved Lincoln giving Lynn a judgmental stare while she simply made 'innocent' whistling noises the two started to leave the court and head to Lynn's favorite sandwich shop for a quick bite.

As they left, they noticed quite a few people had apparently gathered around to watch their game, said crowd was dispersing now as well so the two didn't pay much mind to them. Although Lynn did notice a couple of girls of similar age slightly fawning... over Lincoln.

Lynn shot a glare of daggers at the said girls which caused them to take notice and soon enough scatter together as well. But once again, Lynn couldn't come up with a reason for her behavior.

As the pair made their way down the streets engaging in small talk, Lynn eventually revealed her vast list of achievements and accolades from the numerous and various sports she took part in. At first Lincoln considered there was some exaggeration, but eventually realized that Lynn was very much telling the truth, and that it may be prudent to remain respectful to her in anything that involves physical interaction.

He also realized that his own modest achievements in basketball were essentially kindergarten stickers, compared to her.

After a 10 minute walk they finally arrived at Lynn's usual sandwich place, made their orders and took their seats.

"So you said you tried a bunch of other sports, but nothing stuck?" Lynn asked as she pulled her chair to sit down.

"Huh? Oh – er, yea," Lincoln took his own seat across from her on their small table.

"I tried Soccer, track and football. Oh and dodge ball, if that counts."

Lynn quirked an eyebrow at the mention of football;

"Wait so, you tried and _quit_ football? Someone with your height and physique?"

Lincoln made an unusual movement with his body, almost as if a shudder and then faced the logo-covered glass window of the shop, his facial expression almost blank – as if he was having a traumatic flashback of some sort.

"It was a while ago… I didn't even sign up for it, it was my mom… And let's just say I got a lot of legwork done by the end of that whole episode."

"And also, back then I wasn't that tall. Nor did I have the 'physique'."

With one last shudder, he calmly turned his head from facing the window back to Lynn, who had a face of slightly annoyed curiosity, eyebrow still raised.

Although the sporty brunette tried to get more out of Lincoln on the matter by saying he was being irrational and overly-dramatic, he wouldn't budge. Eventually, their respective sandwiches arrived and Lynn decided to the drop subject. For now.

At this point Lincoln figured Lynn had told pretty much everything about herself to him, and she certainly seemed to enjoy doing it. There was no way she could anything else to show off.

And then Lynn with complete and utter casual and calm took in an entire 6-inch submarine sandwich in one go, swallowing it and letting out only a mildly loud burp.

She did not flinch nor wince or even took a bite of the thing at any point.

Lincoln only stared numbly at the sight, his mind going through several thoughts, half of which consisted of pondering the theories and facts on the pre-established physiological limits of the human body. The other half of his thoughts consisted of things that would make Saint Peter frown very much.

After their lunch the two finally started to head back to their homes, on the way Lincoln started to share more about his hobbies; his love of Ace Savvy, comics, video games, drawing so on to an apparently intently listening Lynn.

"Man, I did _not_ figure you to be _that much _of a dork. But I guess the video games explain the bags under your eyes, huh. " The female jock nonchalantly replied, to which Lincoln simply furrowed a brow and showed a face of perhaps slight scorn.

That conversation went on for a little while, but in the end proved futile to bring to any other conclusion besides Lynn saying dork, nerd or lame. Despite all that, Lincoln didn't seem to get particularly upset; maybe he was in a good mood.

As they closed in on home, the two crossed a store that Lincoln hadn't noticed earlier; he made a sudden stop and turned to face the front store window.

Lynn didn't even realize Lincoln wasn't walking with her until after a few steps, after which she turned back to see the white-haired teen simply standing there, motion-less like some petrified statue.

She walked back towards him to take a closer look at what had gotten his attention; it was a costume store and on the front window, it had on display one of its products. A squirrel costume. One that looked like it was meant to used as a mascot of some sort.

A very much confused Lynn turned her head to take a closer look at Lincoln, in hope to perhaps understand what the hell he was doing.

Lincoln simply stood still, his face and his body both devoid of any expression or emotion, his eyes staring attentively yet utterly empty of any life, like glass beads on a doll. He was staring dead center at the Squirrel costume. Right into its eyes. Or was it the other way around?

For all intents and purposes, Lincoln had nothing less of what is called a thousand yard stare. As if he was reliving a vivid flashback of storming the Normandy beachheads during World War Two.

Several seconds later Lincoln shook his head, shrugged and calmly started walking again.

Now it was Lynn who didn't move, the expression on her face being the equivalent of a flat line. She took a quick glance at Lincoln as he walked away, and then at the squirrel costume in the window.

At first, she didn't understand. Then she felt slightly perturbed. And then finally she felt a sense of… Déjà vu?

She then too stared on at it for several seconds.

And just like Lincoln, she shook her head, shrugged and started running back up to him, both of which resumed any small talk they had going on prior to coming across the costume shop. As if nothing had happened.

"So um, Linc"

Lincoln turned towards the tomboy, as they both reached the entrance of their apartment building.

"I'll be honest in saying I didn't really know what I was expecting, but I ended up having some great fun, especially that game. Man at one point I figured you almost had it…." Lynn paused as she cracked a bashful grin.

"Sooo…. You have fun too?"

"Well, Of course I did?" Lincoln replied with a slightly confused tone in his voice.

"If I wasn't having fun you'd think I'd stick around to play a 90-minute basketball game?"

Lynn just unsurely smiled as Lincoln continued on;

"I had great fun too, Lynn. It was pretty cool to get to know you."

"Though I wish you weren't so…. Brash with your opinions. And maybe we could talk about your sandwich eating ethics too, I'm pretty sure the way you eat them could constitute as a violation of the Geneva Convention or something. Still,"

"So… would you like to hang out again sometime?" Lynn asked after a small chuckle, with a taste of meekness in her voice

Lincoln popped a lopsided smile before replying;

"Sure why not, I'd love to, I mean we are friends now, right? Or were you just hoping to humiliate me in basketball and I disappointed you?"

"Heh yea we're friends now….." Lynn almost trailed, before cutting herself off;

"I mean uh, Don't get so ahead of yourself, comic boy, You just caught me off guard since it was our first time playing against each other. Next time, I _will_ humiliate you." She pointed a finger at Lincoln, with a half serious and half playful glare, and meekness that was there now gone.

"Any….Anyway…. since you _want to_ hang out, I was wondering if you'd mind exchangin' each other phone numbers?" And she suddenly felt the butterflies again. Maybe she should've eaten a couple of more subs.

"Oh, sure I- Oh." Lincoln paused as he checked his pockets.

"Oh?" Lynn quietly spoke, with a grain of worry.

"I forgot my cell at home… I guess I'll just give you my number? You can just call me and I'll save yours later." Lincoln offered his modest compromise with a friendly grin

"Uh… yea, yea sure." A soft smile back to Lynn's face as she took out her phone.

Lincoln went on to give Lynn his number, As Lynn wrote it down on her phone she didn't realize she was rubbing one of her feet against the back of her other leg, like a school girl receiving a letter from her crush.

_Luckily_ for Lynn, Lincoln didn't seem to notice.

He also didn't notice the blush on her face, either.

Of course, Lynn simply didn't know why she was feeling or doing any of that. Maybe she should get her temperature checked, she wondered.

As the two finished, they went inside the lobby and headed for their floor. Lynn once again directing them to the stairs. Much to Lincoln's groaning displeasure, although with how much force Lynn dragged him he was sure she could very well carry him up the stairs if she wanted to.

"So just call or text me whenever and I'll just save your number" Lincoln informed Lynn as he knocked on his apartment's door.

Lynn simply nodded in acknowledgement, the pleasant smile on her face compliment Lincoln's casual one.

The door opened to Lincoln's slightly tired looking father, who was holding an awake little Lila in his arms.

"Daa!" Shouted the toddler squeefully at the sight of her father.

"Welcome back, kiddo" The elder Lynn greeted his son with half closed eyes and a faint smile, before turning a curious look towards the brunette next to Lincoln.

"And you're…"

"Lynn. Her name is Lynn" Lincoln quickly replied to his father, while taking a hold of a very happy Lila from him.

"Huh well isn't that a funny coinci-"

"Yea. I know, we share the same name. Lincoln already told me" Lynn cut off the Elder Lynn.

"So to avoid any confusion how about… How about you call me Lynn Junior and we'll call you Lynn Senior? I mean, my dad calls me junior anyway so…" the brunette made her offer of compromise.

Lynn Sr. pondered for a bit, mostly at the insinuation towards his age, but in the end he admitted to himself that it was really of no consequence. It did make him sound professional, after all.

"Well you could just call me Mr. Lynn, but fair enough, we'll go with your flow." Lynn Sr nodded his head while quickly glancing towards the kitchen apartment;

"Well I'm going head back to the kitchen, Lincoln, your mother is in Lily's room having a talk with her, so if want to talk with either, make sure to knock first." Lynn Sr informed his son as he walked back to the kitchen in a slight hurry, leaving the front door open for his son to enter whenever.

"Your dad calls you junior?" A legitimately curious sounding Lincoln asked Lynn

"Yea, his dad, my gramps, used to call him Junior, in his case though, my dad _is_ a junior." Lynn shrugged as she continued;

"Apparently at some point my dad started using the dog's name to hide it. Gramps must've had a laugh."

"Daa!"

Suddenly both their attentions went to the white-haired little girl playfully nuzzling her father's arm.

"Aw, I guess you missed me today, bun?" Lincoln cooed at his young daughter, as he lifted her to his face, giving her a soft peck and nuzzles on her cheek.

The very much pleased little toddler, while enjoying her father's attention started to turn around to face directly at Lynn.

Lila looked at the sports girl with a wide smile, Lynn giving a rather awkward one in return, until Lila pointed towards her, specifically at her jersey.

"Nu-Numbeh Weon!" she pointed at the "1" logo on the front of Lynn's jersey.

Lynn's awkward smile followed to turn into a wide and pleased grin;

"Awww, you got that right! Lynn-sanity's _always_ number one!"

Lila simply giggled at her reaction followed which Lynn did some victory poses, inciting some more laughter from the toddler.

"Man Lincoln, you didn't tell me you had such a cute lil' sister" Lynn said with a cheerful voice.

"Daughter."

Lynn stopped her gesturing and immediately darted her eyes to Lincoln's

"Huh, Wha-"

"This is Lila, she's my daughter. My sister Lily is inside, like my dad said." The white-haired boy informed her, she could notice the tone of seriousness in his voice.

"Oh well- I uh, I mean I didn't know aheh-"Lynn tried to speak with an awkward grin on her face, only to be stopped by Lincoln who raised his hand.

"You're not good at this kind of stuff, are you?" He asked almost deadpanned.

Lynn slowly shook her head, her smile dying down.

"Well anyway… Like I've said, I had a great time today and I hope we can hang again soon, See ya later Lynn." A tiny smile appearing on Lincoln's face, all the while Lila looked on their conversation, with a smile of her own.

"Uuhh, Yea Me too, and um your daughter's pretty cute, see ya next time uh….. _Daddy-O_!" Lynn spoke as she awkwardly walked backwards towards her apartment door.

For a few moments both Lincoln and even Lila simply stared on at Lynn's callback to the 60's, before slowly nodding his head and going into his apartment, closing the door behind him.

For the next several seconds Lynn simply stood there, leaning her back against the front door of her apartment, her head hanging low – she was deep in thought, the veil of silence on the floor being her only comfort. For a moment.

"Really Lynn?, Daddy-O?"

For all her tomboy brashness, Lynn did possess an uncannily high pitched shriek.

After a brief pause in the air, Lynn tried to uncontort her arms from her body, which had wrapped around her like two Boa constrictors while she also tried to regain the color back in irides of her eyes.

She slowly turned her head to her right, towards the very much monotone and familiar voice that had just, for a moment, completely and utterly ripped her soul out from her mortal being.

"LUCY! DO YOU WANT ME END UP IN A COFFIN?!" Lynn exclaimed at the Goth, who simply stood there like a almost like a mannequin, unfazed and emotionless. Well, besides the smirk she had for a few seconds.

"If I had a dollar for every time you've said that over the years, I could probably arrange it." Lucy replied, her voice giving no indication of joking or seriousness.

Lynn, although very much huffing and angry, took a gulp of nervousness at the Goth's retort and calmed her posture;

"How did you even sneak up ther-"

"Our front door is _very_ well greased and thus, doesn't make a sound." Lucy replied, while cutting her jock friend off, and then continued;

"But seriously, Daddy-O? you called him Daddy-O? of all the things you could've said, _Daddy-O?_, By Azathoth, what is wrong with you?"

There was a brief pause between the two girls, as Lucy looked straight on at Lynn from behind the bangs that covered her face, while Lynn made a few glances towards the floor and Lucy, embarrassment being very obvious on her face.

Finally, the jock once again regained the last of her composure and turned her eyes directly towards Lucy before finally replying to her;

"Lucy, did you just call me an Ass Tho-"

Lincoln slowly walked his way across living room, playing with Lila still in his arms;

"_I guess Lucy didn't tell her everything about me... I mean I guess I prefer it that way…_"he thought to himself.

Lynn Sr. took a glance at his son walking by and turned away from his cooking;

"Glad you're already making friends here, son." A simple smile donning on the man's face.

"And by the way, we're having my crème de la crème; Lynn-sagne!" he finished with a wink

Lincoln nodded on with a modest smile as he made his way towards his room; his father however spoke up again;

"Although now with your new friend I guess my food's naming convention might seem a bit awkward now, hmm…." Lynn Sr. began to ponder as he continued cooking.

Lincoln couldn't really tell if his father was joking or not, but nonetheless he rolled his eyes and continued walking down the hall; almost arriving at the end he noticed the door of his sister's room was ajar, peeking in he saw his mother talking to Lily, like his father had mentioned, however it seemed that it was rather serious.

Forgoing his father's recommendation to knock, Lincoln leaned his head forward through the slight opening through the door to see if he could a better listen of the conversation.

Apparently Lily had walked off from her father's watch while they were shopping at a local mall and wandered to the front of a clothing shop. A clothing shop specifically for women.

There Lily inspected the front window of the shop, and saw that they had a certain kind underwear on display, that is to say, The Lingerie kind. The see-through lingerie kind.

The curious six-year old, when she arrived back home with her father would then go on to ask her parents on what exactly even was the purpose of underwear that people could see through.

Lincoln slowly leaned back from the door and conversation and shook his head, he had a feeling his father would be getting a talking-to later tonight as well.

He decided that listening in on a conversation about lingerie between his little sister and mother was really not in his best interests. Specially given Lily's very… imaginative questioning. Poor Rita.

The Night went on as it normally would, everyone freshened up, had their dinner, Lily and Lynn Sr. shared the details about their day went, followed by Lincoln who did the same, as well as talking about meeting Lynn, his new sporty-brunette friend.

At the end his parents seemed glad and Lily was even a little excited about meeting Lynn sometime, Although Lincoln did notice early in the dinner that his mother made a glare towards his nervous looking father, wonder what that's about, Lincoln sarcastically wondered.

After dinner was done with, everybody cleaned up and headed to bed, Lincoln stayed up for a short while more to spend time with his daughter, until she too went to sleep.

Lincoln gently put her in her crib, blanket and all and headed towards his own bed, he decided to grab one of his Ace Savvy comic to read before he went to slumber himself. It was an older issue called 'Ace Savvy: A New Deck' it's arc was of a teen, dubbed in the comic as 'The chosen one' fulfilling his destiny and replacing Ace Savvy himself, and taking him his mantle as superhero, it was one of Lincoln's favorites.

A short time after 11 P.M Lincoln finished his comic and placed it aside, he laid flat in his bed as sleep only slowly began creeping into him, he passed a glance over to his sleeping daughter and with familiar smile once again began thinking about things.

Things such as how he couldn't wait for his little girl to grow up so he could share his hobbies with her just like he had shared them with Lily.

He hoped that when Lila would grow up that she would like video games, so he could play with her.

He hoped that when she grew up that she would take an interest in drawing, where he could help her.

He hoped when she grew up she would like comics, so he could read some of his favorite ones to her.

He hoped… that she would grow up to love her family… even if it was short one…

With that, he once again stopped his train of thoughts. He turned his head to the side and thought back on the events of the day. About Lynn.

He had genuinely enjoyed her company and their time together, even if she was a bit brash… but just like with Lucy, it ended in the same manner. It always did.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Lincoln finally started to fall asleep a last couple of thoughts passing by his head before his dreams overtook him.

The first thought being on where life was now intending to take him, even after all he been through, he wondered _with who_\- erm, _where_ he would end up.

And the second and last thought that passed his head before sleep was…..

"_Daddy-O? Like seriously? I have LITERALLY never been called…. I would've preferred if she called me Lame-O or something!"_

**xxxxx**

**A/Ns :**

**Yea, that was a Die Hard reference in regards to Lynn's father.**

**I hope I didn't make Lincoln seem like 'Mr. Perfect' here just because he's competent in basketball. Even in this AU Lincoln is a good jack-of-all-trades, just better, given his age. As in he is good in certain talents, while the (not) Loud Girls are still far more skilled in certain talents.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N's: So this chapter took far longer to come out than I wanted to, not for a lack of idea(s) – but rather because of time constraints a busy schedule.**

**I also wanted this chapter to be considerably longer but with the limited time I had it would've taken much longer. In the end I figured even half a slice is better than nothing, I hope you all understand. **

**I'll be trying my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.**

**(P.S, for those concerned I do plan on making Ronnie-Anne, as well as Bobby make an appearance in the story. Eventually.)**

**XXXXX**

_It was golden and splendid,_

_That City of light;_

_A vision suspended_

_In deeps of the night;_

_A region of wonder and glory, whose temples were marble and white._

_I remember the season_

_It dawn'd on my gaze;_

_The mad time of unreason,_

_The brain-numbing days_

_When Winter, white-sheeted and ghastly, stalks onward…to torture…and…_

The Little Goth sighed, unable to find the word to add to her latest poem that would rhyme.

"It's always the same, I start off with ease and grace…and then…it's like a tentacle wrapping around my head…stopping me from thinking." Lucy added another sigh at the end of her sentence, as she tapped her black book with the back of her pen repeatedly and timidly, resting her other hand on her cheek.

Lincoln sat in front of her, one leg laid flat and the other risen by the knee, attentively listening to his Goth friend's poem and her impasse.

It was half past noon as they sat on their apartment building's roof, much like they did the first time they met. Lincoln and her had spent the last 2 hours together like this, talking and discussing about various things at first, and later Lincoln offering to act as an audience for Lucy's poetry, It was not a offer Lucy normally offered or gave to people, but for some reason, she felt as if she could trust the white-haired teen more than the average person.

"Hmm… What about… Craze?" Lincoln casually suggested to his poet friend.

"Huh?" said Lucy, as she raised her head up from her momentary and tempered sulk.

"Your poem… you know the part where you wrote '_The brain-numbing days'?" _Lincoln explained and continued;

"Well, the word _craze_ would work in the next line, since it rhymes with _days_?"

Lucy merely nodded before looking back at her book and reading her poem, upon which she concluded that Lincoln was indeed correct, and so she resumed her writing.

_The brain-numbing days…_

_When Winter, white-sheeted and ghastly, stalks onward to torture and… Craze._

A small smile came to life on the pale poet's face, as she lifted her head from her book to Lincoln;

"That works, Lincoln. Thank you." She confirmed with a content tone.

"No problem, Luce, I'm happy to help." Lincoln replied with a smile of his own and continued;

"I guess if you ever need help with your poetry again, like when you're stuck, you can ask me. I mean, If you want that is, Not that I'm _Shakespeare_ reincarnate or anything but you know…. Two heads are better than one?" he finished with a tilted grin and shrug.

"I'll be sure to when I can." The Goth responded, the smile still adorning her.

"And I'll be sure to do my best to help you if I can." Lincoln confidently stated, after a pause he opened his mouth again;

"Too bad Lynn had errands today, would've been nice if she could join us, it can get pretty relaxing up here."

The faint smile on Lucy turned into a contained frown, as she then austerely looked straight ahead at Lincoln with otherwise no other hint of change in her demeanor.

A brief period of awkward silence went by as Lincoln stared back at the statue-like Goth in confusion.

"Oh right, you've only known her for a day." Lucy finally spoke in her usual monotone voice.

Lincoln's response was in the form of an eye-brow raise signaling curiosity on what she meant, and further confusion.

Lucy took another long sigh and followed by a deep breath, she put her pen in her book and began to explain the matter to her naïve and new poetic assistant;

"Lincoln, First of all, Lynn isn't a particularly great fan of my poetry or poetry in general. Especially when it comes listening. And don't even start with _her_ 'suggestions' on it."

"Second, Lynn being on the roof is generally a bad idea. I'm not even sure if her parents have even allowed her to come up here again."

Lincoln nodded on as Lucy explained, eyebrow raised as his curiosity seemingly rose despite the information he was being given;

"Why… Why wouldn't she be allowed on the roof?" He somewhat nervously asked.

Lucy let out yet another sigh and then continued;

"When Lynn comes up here, she rarely 'relaxes' and or enjoys the peace."

"Instead, most of the time she just starts doing one of her sports here…. Playing catch with herself, basketball against the wall and even…. Hockey."

"…. Hockey? On the roof? " Lincoln replied, his head tilted to the side, while he maintained his confused and perhaps slightly disconcerted expression, Lucy nodded and then resumed;

"Let's just say that as of right now, Lynn's current record is at 27 broken windshields, 8 dented car roofs, 14 bruises on as many people….. Oh and one concussion."

"The last one got her grounded for an entire summer. And with all that in her rap sheet, I'm pretty sure she isn't even allowed to come up here anymore by her parents."

"Don't get me wrong, Lincoln, she's a great friend – she's been like a sister to me at times, it's just that…. You really ought to wait till you get to know her more…" Lucy finished, adding a final sigh at the end of her sentence.

Lincoln blinked a few times as he processed all the information he received about his new tomboy friend, concluding that she was rather… eccentric. He'd have to be a bit more careful around her he figured, he also considered the kinder words the Goth had said about her as well. But still, Hockey on the roof?

"Well… I guess I'll keep all that in mind, Thanks I guess… for telling me." Lincoln finally spoke after a pause.

"No problem." Lucy replied back, monotone as ever, before she went back to writing in her book, presumably working on her poem.

A small amount of time passed where Lucy remained focused on her writing as Lincoln simply looked on, momentarily gazing at the surrounding sky and buildings and let out a few content sighs of his own, before finally he turned back to speak to his perpetually dark-haired friend, a slight smile showing on his face;

"You know Lucy, I don't really mind it all that much – I'm actually really enjoying it just being the two of us up here by ourselves. It just feels… calm. Plus your poetry is pretty awesome."

Lucy stopped her writing again, and for a few seconds she sat simply idle before speaking;

"I'm… I'm glad. I enjoy it too…. I mean I've always enjoyed being up here…but I guess now it's….more…special…." her voice became quieter and quieter for every word she spoke, Lincoln being able to barely hear her near the end.

Lincoln swore he saw some sort of… color appear on Lucy's normally pale face… was it red? He couldn't really tell as she had dug her face further into her book. She must be really focused. Maybe he shouldn't bother her….

The Sudden sound of 2 fast cars speeding by and sirens nearby caught bother their attention, causing them to both snap their heads towards the street.

"Well…. I guess you can only find only so much calm in the city." Lucy remarked, adding one more sigh at the end.

"Yea I guess…." Lincoln replied, after which he raised his arm in front of him, wanting to look at the time from his wristwatch.

"Oh… Hey Um Lucy, It was really great spending time with you up here, But I gotta head back and check up and Lila and see if my parents need anything, they'd ask me to come home before One'O Clock so you know… catch you later." Lincoln spoke with a smile as he got up to leave, albeit first waiting for a reply from Lucy.

"Mhmm.." Lucy replied as she nodded but then suddenly stopped and spoke;

"Lincoln, wait a second." she said as she started getting up herself, as Lincoln stood still and looked on.

"Since Lynn never bothered to mention…." As Lucy spoke, she turned her head to the side, a bit of hiss in her voice, she continued;

"You and Lynn... Swapped numbers yesterday right?... Well would you mind exchanging numbers with me as well?... Since… Since we're friends too…" Lucy asked with a less monotone and a more meek voice. She also thanked the gods for her long bangs in front of her concealing the blus- ahem, confliction on her face.

Lincoln blinked for a few seconds before the realization hit him and then he finally replied;

"Oh, right! Heh, It really must've just slipped my mind to ask…. I didn't mean anything by it Luce, sorry." Lincoln said as he checked his pockets for his phone, yet once again, like yesterday, found them empty. He still hadn't even turned it back on since 2 days ago.

"Huh well… I guess I left my phone at home again, how about I just give you my number for now?" he rubbed the back of his neck as he offered the same compromise he had given Lynn last night.

"That's… perfectly fine." The Goth replied after a couple of seconds, her voice being… unsteady but still in a positive sort of tone. Unusual for her, really.

Lucy jotted down Lincoln's number on her small black phone as he read it out to her, all the while she continued to thank _her-_ erm, _the_ gods for her face being concealed by her long hair.

After that the two bid each other a final farewell for the day, trading each other a small, but warm smile. Lucy decided to stay on the roof for a while longer to continue her poetry…. And maybe convene with her other-worldly friends for some… advice.

A few minutes later Lincoln arrived back at his apartment, being greeted in by his father, who then went back to his room to discuss with his wife the about plans they wanted to do in the remaining days before they started their new jobs. They didn't seem to have anything for him to do.

Lincoln walked down the hall to his little sister's room to find his daughter Lila and Lily were very much engaged in drawing. He walked over to greet them and decided to act as a judge for their latest artworks.

In the end, Lincoln gave Lila's work a 9.6 out of 10, much to the 15 month-year artist's delight, while he gave his little sister a 9.3 out of 10. Lily complained about there being bias in his judging but Lincoln swore that he remained firmly neutral and practical in his decision making, all while Lila nodded in agreement.

Lily huffed and puffed her cheeks, a little upset, but quickly enough, Lincoln gave her some genuine compliments to her drawing, as well as passed on some wisdom and advice from his own drawing experience, which brightened the six-year old's mood again.

After spending a short time more with them, Lincoln left them to their devices.

Feeling a little bored, he decided to once again indulge himself and see if there was anything on T.V, once again finding nothing interesting, he just stuck to watching the news. Given that he now lives in the city, it might not be a bad idea.

Half an hour passed before Lincoln got up and headed towards his room, on the way his parents informed him that today his mother will be taking Lily to look around the city and do some shopping, Rita assuring him that she and his sister will have a more… modest time. Lincoln passed a glance to his father, who was looking a floor with a pouting frown.

Lincoln simply nodded in acknowledgement, and gave a sympathetic shrug to his father. Yup, he certainly got a talking-to last night.

Lincoln later arrived at his room; he laid himself down in his bed and felt an odd sensation of procrastination, the reason for which he did not know why. Some time passed and later Lily arrived with Lila in hand, apparently the little toddler wanted to spend time with her daddy, while Lily had to go get ready for her trip with mom.

Lincoln again solemnly nodded, giving Lily a kiss on the forehead and telling her to have fun, the little blonde giving one last goodbye to both her brother and niece before running off.

Lincoln now sat up, put his little daughter on his lap and started to play their usual game, a duel between his dreaded left hand against the small, white-haired heroine.

As Lila began her climatic contest against her five-appendage wielding foe, Lincoln's eyes shifted to the lamp table next to his bed, where his orange phone was. Suddenly he realized why he felt the procrastination a moment ago.

He picked up his phone and turned it on, finally ending the long 2 day hiatus of shutdown that had befallen it.

"Let's see if people still remember _the_ Lincoln Loud." He muttered softly and sarcastically, as he opened the messages and texts tab on his phone.

Indeed, Lincoln had received several texts and images from his friends – a few from Jordan, Paige, Liam, Stella, one or two from a few others and he even got one from Chandler.

Looks like most of them are enjoying their vacations, a few of them preparing for various planned trips to spend most of the remaining summer in.

Scrolling down, Lincoln saw that he had also received quite a few messages from Bobby and Ronnie-Anne, Bobby stating that he's officially started doing a full time job since he graduated this year, and Ronnie-Anne saying that even she's now started doing a part time one, at least for the summer.

One particular text from Bobby said that he would usually be available to talk during the evenings, when his shift would be over, with that said; another text from him says to call him this Friday during that time for a talk.

The oddly specific request peaked Lincoln's interest, but he shrugged it off. For the moment, it's Thursday and three in the afternoon, very much likely he's working. And probably so is Ronnie-Anne.

Lincoln let out a slightly disappointed sigh, He was really hoping to talk to either, but fair enough, they had to support that huge family of theirs, Lincoln loved his little sister Lily very much, but he was glad for the modest family he did have, Lila included. He really couldn't even fathom how he would cope in a _larger_ family.

Nonetheless, He made a reminder to call Bobby at the time he asked him to. And to maybe call Ronnie-Anne _this_ evening.

Last up but certainly not least on his list of friends came Clyde, Lincoln was curious to see what his longest best friend had sent him – he was the arguably… er, certainly the most emotional of his clique when Lincoln told them he'd be moving. Thankfully he managed to control his nosebleeds, something he's only been able to do since last year. Heavens forbid if a blood clinic nurse were to find out about the amount of blood Clyde had wasted through his nostrils in the years prior…

Clyde had also told him that he would be visiting some relatives up-state with his dads, it could be just as likely that he would be too busy to send much…..

There were 68. A Grand-total of 68 new messages adorned the tab with Clyde's name. It took Lincoln a minute of blank, wide-eyed staring to come to realize and even comprehend the fact.

Lincoln, in a half shell-shocked state, went through each message one-by-one, his mind numb yet still active. At the same time he wasn't much surprised, After all he's known the guy for over a decade now, Clincoln McCloud and all that. This really wasn't anything new – just damn well impressive.

The contents of the mountain of messages varied from "HEY DUDE HOPE YOU"RE DOING OK" to "HEY BRO DON'T SPRAIN ANYTHING WHEN MOVING AROUND YOUR BOXES" along with "HEY BUD, DID YOU MAKE SURE TO QUADRUPLE CHECK THAT YOU PACKED ALL YOUR COMCIS?" and "HEY MAN ALREADY STARTING TO MISS YOU" – the last one being dated less than 20 hours after Lincoln and his family had set off for their drive.

Other messages included various online links to articles that talked about 'dangerous' spots in the city and how to avoid them, an article about 'city-slang' and another article about the many good and (mostly) bad 'characters' you can meet.

Lincoln only hoped Clyde didn't have a panic attack in the last two days. He was doing so well too, it had been almost six months since his last one.

The last message from Clyde, sent only some hours ago showed that he and his dads were about to board a plane for their aforementioned relative visit.

"And they say I worry too much?" Lincoln let out a sigh at his fellow Ace-Savvy compatriot, and after which went back up to his list to texts, and began to reply back to each one of his friends.

Finished half an hour later, Lincoln had received a few replies himself in return, although none from Bobby, Ronnie-Anne or Clyde as he figured, they were probably busy right now.

And finally with that burden out of the way, Lincoln sat his phone back down at the lamp table and took in another sigh while pinching and massaging the bridge of his nose, the shock from the flash storm of digital letters sent by Clyde.

"Man Clyde…." Lincoln whispered as he began speaking out loud;

"Good grief, with all the texts he sent and his constant worrying, It's like I was going to sign up for the army for something, Ha!" letting out a chuckle at the end;

"Oh yea, now _that_ would make a great story! Old Lincoln Loud joins the army and goes off to fight in a war. Heh, knowing my luck it would probably end up getting cut short." He said openly, with no attempt to veil his sarcasm.

What was a lopsided smile on his face began to fade, as he closed his eyes and titled his head down before bringing back up.

"Yup…" He quietly muttered with half closed eyes, his face showing signs of a disappointed expression.

"Still talking to myself at sixteen…. Boy it was awkward enough back when I was eleven… I thought I'd grow out of by now but…." He let out a sigh, instead of finishing his sentence, going into a momentary sulk.

"Auw-dence!" A sudden high-pitched voice caused him to draw his attention to his lap.

"Auw… Auw-Dence!" Lila Squealed again with extra joy, looking up at her father while using her tiny hands to squeeze onto two of his own hand, apparently once again having defeated her arch-rival.

A Jubilant-like smile emerged onto Lincoln's face as he let out some contained, pleasant chuckles while picking his daughter up to his face;

"Hah….I guess that's right bun, at least I have you as an _audience_ for my rambles."

"Bet I look stupid huh? You must get a good laugh."

Lila stared back at him with a wide smile of her own before she raised one of her arms and then placed her hand on the top of her young father's nose;

"Daa!"

Lincoln rolled his eyes, smile still unwavering and replied with a soft peck of the lips on Lila's forehead causing the toddler to burst into a giggle fit, Lincoln complimenting her with some soft laughter of his own.

Suddenly another, louder noise caused them both to stop and turn their heads towards the ceiling, from where the sound was coming from.

Ah right, Apartments. Top floor Neighbors. Noise complaints. Can't live in a city without those, it would almost be a crime against nature itself. Although this noise wasn't exactly that of a couple arguing or that of bed-squeaking, it sounded more like…

"Moo-Sik!" Lila yelled as she pointed upwards.

"Yea….Music…." Lincoln slowly let out his, still gazing on the ceiling and focusing on listening to the sound;

"Is….Is that SMOOCH?" He asked himself, and was correct, it was indeed a song from the popular band. However the instrumentals, the guitar specifically, sounded more… live than that of a digital recording – and the vocals…

Lincoln placed Lila on his bed as he walked towards his window; opening it he poked his head outside to getting a better listen;

"Woah… that's live guitar alright… and someone's singing the lyrics too…they're doing a cover… it's pretty good." He said to himself, as he realized that someone was doing a cover of one of SMOOCH's popular songs – The music playing being recorded instrumentals while the guitar and vocals were being done by the person.

Lincoln noted that the voice was female, and that the accent had an odd tendency to jump from American English to… British?

Lincoln blinked for a bit, slowly rocking his head to the tune, and then brining his head back inside, closing the window, For now the music wasn't especially loud, just enough to be heard and be recognized by those who could.

He picked up his phone, checking for any new replies – there being none for now. He then turned to Lila sitting on his bed idly looking at him with a smile, he starting returning one in kind, picked her up and headed for the living room, his hope being to spend time with her at the T.V and maybe finding a cartoon for her to watch.

Arriving at the living room Lincoln saw his mother and Lily standing at the door, all ready to head out for the evening, after stating that they'll be back in a few hours, they bid farewell to Him, his father and Lila and left.

As Lincoln sat down at the couch with his daughter, he noticed his father was working in the kitchen, nothing unusual about that, but for some reason he was cooking Apple Cabbage Stew.

Lincoln inquired his father about the curious dish, but Lynn Sr. only nonchalantly shrugged, and without saying a word went back to cooking, mumbling something about health benefits and better stamina.

Lincoln blinked for several seconds and then squinted his eyes, stuck in state of deep thought as that of Aristotle, even Lila stared blankly for a few moments at her grandfather.

After a short while both Lila and Lincoln turned their heads to look at each other and then just shrugged and went about watching T.V

Eventually, Lincoln found an amusing cartoon about the daily antics of a blue cat and his orange fish best friend. Lila seemed to enjoy it very much.

Some time passed, and Lila started to fall asleep, with Lincoln himself getting a bit bored, guess he just wasn't cut out to staying cooped up in an apartment; thankfully his mother wouldn't have to find out about his bluff.

He decided with Lila napping and himself with nothing to do, he might as well go for a walk around a city, just a quick one – no particular goal in mind.

His father having done making his stew and getting himself cleaned, took Lila to look after her while Lincoln start preparing to leave, taking his jacket and whatever else belongings he wanted to – this time including his _now_ charged phone.

As he leave started to leave his father however asked to wait for a moment, and then handed him a small wad of cash, telling him his mother left it for him since she knew he would be heading out.

Lincoln raised an eye-brow at his father;

"Mother's Intuition, Son." Lynn Sr. plainly stated;

"Also known as Wife Senses - Don't ask me how it works, I gave up 20 years ago."

Lincoln nodded slowly and understandingly, giving a fist bump to his dad and a soft kiss on the cheek to Lila he bid them his farewell and went outside the apartment.

Taking the elevator down to the lobby, as he started to step outside the building his phone suddenly beeped; he had received a message from Clyde;

Clyde: "HEY MAN JUST LANDED AT THE AIRPORT. I'M REALLY GLAD TO HEAR FROM YOU. SORRY IF I SEEMED PANICKED, BUT I YOU KNOW I ALWAYS WORRY ABOUT YOU, BUD."

Lincoln started typing his immediate reply, thus starting a small conversation between the two;

Lincoln: "Uh Clyde, what's with the all caps?"

Clyde: "OH. Uh Sorry bud, I was just excited in my head so, I guess I just started typing out loud."

Clyde: "Anyways how the urban life, city-slicker?"

Lincoln: "Well, I haven't been mugged and stabbed yet."

Clyde: "DUDE NOT FUNNY."

Lincoln: "Lol."

Clyde: "Seriously man, you know how dangerous it can get on those streets!"

Lincoln: "Chill bud, A little morbid humor helps keep the sanity. Anyway, why not call me instead?"

Clyde: "Still in Airport, about to leave soon, bad call reception."

Lincoln: "When can we talk then?"

Clyde: "Me and my dads are gonna be tired for the rest of the day. So tomorrow then. I'll call you?"

Lincoln: "Alright, cool."

For a moment, Lincoln darted his eyes to the ground and away from the phone screen, taking in a quick but dishearten sigh, closing his eyes for a second he looked back on the phone and began to type another message;

Lincoln: "Hey so how are her parent's doing" Lincoln hesitantly typed and sent.

There was a brief, but distinct pause before Clyde responded back to his text.

Clyde: "I've been keeping tabs… They said they're gonna be moving out of state, down south somewhere. Permanently."

"Clyde: "I'm Sorry Bud."

Lincoln stood like a statue, his eyes wincing, before he finally continued;

Lincoln: "Alright thanks man, I owe you a lot."

Clyde: "It's cool bud, Just stay safe, OK?"

Lincoln: "Yea, You too."

Clyde: "Our ride's here, talk to you later!"

And with that, their conversation ended. Lincoln took to the side of the building's entrance and leaned against the wall, folding his arms, in a manner of hugging himself, His phone still in hand.

His face had an aura of defeat on it, his demeanor that of a will-shattered soldier who was surrendering to the enemy, accepting whatever fate awaited him.

"So if they're leaving….that means…. She'll have no one to visit…." He weakly muttered to himself, half dazed in his own mind.

He again closed his eyes and hanged his head low, his posture otherwise the same. He stood there for several minutes.

Lincoln then felt a hefty, and rather clumsy bump on his leg, causing to jump back to his senses;

"Ugh…. Sorry-"said a young looking girl, while huffing and grunting, carrying a large and evidently heavy toolbox.

"Uh.. No problem." Told her as Lincoln slowly observed the girl as she walked past him.

She was much smaller than him, and obvious looked young, ten or eleven years old perhaps, wearing a yellow t-shirt covered by blue overalls, the kind a handyman would wear. She had blonde hair, with a long-pony tail, her head covered by a very much distinct red cap, the peak shifted to the side.

She looked a bit strong for her age, as proven by the fact she was even able to pick up the huge toolbox she had with her in the first place. She was however still very much struggling with it – for good reason, it looked like a multi-drawer toolbox. With a lot of drawers.

She was heading towards the alley at the side of the apartment building, presumably towards the back garage and parking area of the apartments, made sense, Lincoln figured.

She stopped right at the alley entrance, putting the box down and talking a few breaths, after watching her for a bit, Lincoln put his phone in his pocket and started casually walking over towards her.

"Hey, you need help with that?" Lincoln pointed at the toolbox as he offered his help to carry the toolbox to the apparent and young repair-lady.

"Huh?, what- Oh." The red-capped blonde suddenly turned around, and looked gazingly at the snow-haired teen, who was very much taller than her.

A few seconds paused as the two stared at each other, the moment becoming slightly awkward, until finally the little blonde replied to him;

"Uh, well, sure go ahead if you want thanks."

Lincoln nodded with a smile and bent over to pick up the toolbox, lifting it up he realized it weighed almost close to the quarter of a neutron star. Maybe a little exaggeration but seriously, did she have an entire workshop in here?

Lincoln then used both his hands and was able to lift it up with easier, although still considerable effort, admittedly better than the young girl was doing.

Suddenly a sudden flash of green darted out from the girl's middle pocket on her overalls, causing Lincoln to immediately shift his glance over to it.

It was a frog.

Lincoln stared at it with confused eyes before shifting his view back to the girl's face, who was now, unfazed, casually picking her nose. Thoroughly.

"What?" she asked him innocently.

Lincoln darted his eyes multiple times the frog and then to the girl's face, her being busy with her nasal excavation the entire time, before finally coming to a conclusion in his head;

"_Well….she certainly isn't the princess type."_

**XXXXX**

**The Poem in the beginning is called "The City" By H.P Lovecraft.**

**You might be getting a **_**sinking feeling**_** that I'm going with a theme here for Lucy. A-Hyuck.**

**(PS: I'm not good with writing original poems)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/Ns: Not gonna lie, I'm not particularly satisfied by the length of this chapter, but it's all I could make do with because of limited free time. It's actually extra frustrating since I do know what I want to write, but just don't have the time to do it.**

**Sorry if ya'll were expecting a longer chapter, I'm trying to my best to make as much progress as possible, hopefully I can do better. **

**In regards to Lemons and what not – I **_**Do**_** in fact, intend to include lemons and shipping, I just want to build the story up, I know some people don't really like slow-burn stories but I just want to convey a story rather than rush to the spicy bits. Well, rating appropriate spicy bits. **

'**course I could also pull the anime cliché of Lincoln falling into a pair of breasts or something….. I mean uhh….. **

**XXXXXX**

The red capped and white-haired pair made their way down the alley, towards the garage and parking lot; Lincoln walking slightly awkwardly due to having to use both his arms on lifting what was a Red, 8-Drawer toolbox. Inconspicuously missing any wheels, which would have been a have been a convenient design choice.

"Name's Lana. Lana Hudson. Cool hair."

Lincoln nodded; "Thanks… And him?" he gestured towards Lana's green frog friend;

"Hops."

"Ah. Well, my name's Lincoln, Nice to meet you. And Hops, too." Lincoln made some soft grunts as he carried along the toolbox.

"Nice to meet ya." Lana smiled in reply while Hops gave a single courtesy nod of the head.

The two arrived at the entrance of the Garage and Parking lot; a fairly large lot enclosed by a large chain-link fence on two of its sides, on another side was the apartment building and in the direct opposite side of it was the lineup of garages, in-between was the large parking area. It had two wide entrances parallel to each other between the fences, from where the cars would enter and exit out of – into the alley and then so on.

The lot had a limited number of garages for those willing to pay just a bit extra to store their cars , otherwise they would make do with the free parking.

Lincoln's parents had rented out one of the vacant garages, one of the few luxuries they we're willingly open to spend some extra cash on, even now. And it would appear Lana's parent's had as well, judging from the direction she was walking towards.

"By the way, why'd you come around from the front? Why not take any of the back doors?" Lincoln asked the young blonde, while nudging his head towards the many back entrances and exits of the apartment building.

"They're all locked. Maintenance guy keeps the keys in the office. Except he's not around anymore, so you know."

"… Unlocking a few doors above his pay-grade or something?" Lincoln asked the blonde again, putting aside his immediate thoughts about the various safety hazard violations.

"Eh, more like leave. You can blame Luan for that."

"She did this prank involving her 'own' formula of stink on the guy, earlier this month."

"He went out cold for several hours and apparently needed a 72 hour-long shower. From there he demanded a paid leave and got one."

"I don't think they've cleared him to travel anywhere due to environmental concerns so he can't really go on vacation." Lana finished explaining.

"Don't see what the big deal's about, I sample tested that 'stink' of hers – It really wasn't _that_ bad – I've had plenty worse, I even offered her a better formula-" She was cut off by a ribbit from Hops – who was shaking his head in disapproval, apparently in a gesture to remind her of something.

"Oh right. Luan said she needed her stink-formula to still be _legal_, or something." She finished with a shrug.

Lincoln only nodded his head slowly as he took in Lana's story, unfortunately he found himself with more questions than answers. Like why this didn't end in a lawsuit.

Having arrived at her destination, Lana took out a garage door remote and clicked it – opening one of the garages – revealing one very well-kept garage; multiple modifications had been done to the interior to house more tools and mechanic supplies, three long garage counters adorned each wall, almost filled to the brim with whatever they could be filled with. It was also a little bit messy.

It certainly wasn't the standard setup for one of these garages, at least not from what Lincoln saw from the garage his parents had rented out.

Lincoln then took a better look at the car standing the middle of it all – It was a dark-green colored, somewhat compact-Sedan, after staring at it he realized that he had seen this particular model before – it was a _Solar_, manufactured by _Zanin_.

As opposed to the standard model however, Lincoln could notice it was considerably tweaked and customized – He could notice the modifications on it visually but otherwise couldn't describe them or figure them out in detail, He wasn't a Mechanic or Auto buff, he just, via magazines and the internet, knew some of the more well-known, popular models. The Solar being among them.

It was infinitely more modern and cooler-looking than his dad's ancient relic of a van. Lincoln dreaded each day he came closer to having that "passed" down onto him, Given that he was sixteen it, it wouldn't be that much longer. Seriously, why did his family even need a van?

"You can put that down by the counter over there" Lana pointed to the counter on the left, as she headed towards the direction of a step-ladder on the right.

"So, this all, then?" Lincoln said as he put down the toolbox, bringing much desired relief to his arms.

"Huh? Oh well you for I guess, yea. My dad wanted me to do the usual tune-up on our car so I'll be staying" Lana replied, as she setup the step ladder she had with her by the side of the car's hood, where Lincoln was standing.

"Your dad let's you tune up his car by yourself?" Lincoln blinked twice, to reaffirm what he just heard.

"Well, yea?" Lana told him with a quirked eyebrow and then continued;

"I've been repairing things and fixing up our car since I was… 5?"

"I do regular repairs in our apartment and the building too. The landlord even pays me sometimes." She added as she popped the hood;

"Plumbing, wiring, wood-work, cars, appliances. Pretty much anything, even fixed the elevator and the whole building's wiring a few times."

"That's….Impressive." Lincoln replied almost meekly.

"_Boy, here I thought fixing a toaster was impressive. Ok sure it blew up in flames but no one died so… " _He shook his head.

Lincoln silently observed Lana as she got to work on her tune-up job, she climbed up the first four steps of the step-ladder, which was all she needed to stand over the hood, popping the hood she leaned forward to examine it and then turned around to the toolbox – with a few taps the entire box came to life – all its drawers opened and came out multiple decks, stacked with prime and pristine tools including even a few power-tools.

She grabbed whatever she needed, starting with a flashlight which she held in her mouth and then proceeded to pre-position herself over the exposed engine of her family's Solar, admittedly awkwardly, Hops at this point had hid back into her pocket.

A Ratchet wrench in one hand, a screw driver in the other and a flashlight in her mouth didn't give her much room for flexibility – though she was managing.

"Anything I can do to help?" Lincoln asked the multi-tasking little mechanic sincerely.

"Nahmmff…I gomttff…it…" was her incoherent reply, after taking a double take on Lincoln however, she attempted to speak again;

But first she spat out the flashlight in her mouth, Lincoln catching the saliva covered object gracefully in his palm. The term gracefully may be considered a misnomer, however, if one were to take a look at Lincoln's grimace reaction.

"You can hold the light while I work, it'll make it a ton easier." Lana happily offered the still slightly perturbed teen.

"…..Ye…yea...Sure… let me just get a towel or something first…" Lincoln said as he grabbed a mostly clean rag from the counter and wiped out the spit and saliva from the light, to which Lana rolled her eyes. Lincoln then stood next to Lana, flashing the light down on the engine where she was working.

The ease and efficiency of how Lana did her maintenance routine on the engine could best be described as equivalent to that of a hot knife cutting through butter; Despite her young age she was working her way around the engine like a decades experienced pit crew mechanic.

Lincoln could only stare in blank amazement, he knew the bare basics of mechanic work, mostly due to helping his dad with their family van, but what Lana was doing here was well beyond his skill and ability, and probably beyond most common mechanics as well. Though he wondered if it were healthy for her to stick her tongue out when she was inspecting the oil filter.

"Hey so," Lana spoke as she remained focused on her task;

"You any good with tools? Or this kind of stuff?"

Lincoln was caught a bit off guard by the question, making sure to keep the flashlight in proper place he turned to reply;

"Well, a little bit."

"I took an auto-repair class a while ago, just so I could help out my dad with our car every now and then."

"But I'm not as…. Not as good as you are." He finished with a short whistle in admiration, as he looked at her continued handy-work.

"Mhmmmm… well, what about other stuff, like around the house?" she asked him while tightening a nut on the engine, as well as wiping her forehead with the back of her other hand, covering it a dark oil stain in the process.

"Eh, again, basic stuff." Lincoln answered her, ignoring the face-mask she had given herself, he continued;

"I know how to use a hammer and nails, screw drivers and all that…. I even fixed a toaster once….. Actually never mind that last part." He explained as Lana nodded her head while still working on the engine.

"With that said, don't ask me specifics on screwdrivers; I'm not good with those things." He explained further;

"Also I'm not good with wood either, like I'm not good with wood-working in general." He paused to rub his fingers on his chin and then continued;

"That's pretty much it."

"What about Logs?" Lana asked, having turned her head to face him, pausing her work on the car.

"…_Logs_?" Lincoln asked confused.

"Yea, If you're not good with _wood_-working, then are you good with _log_-working?" she asked him…oddly sincerely.

An unspecified amount of time passed as the two stared each other on, Lana giving Lincoln a plain, but not emotionless expression while Lincoln remained confused, until finally he opened his mouth;

"I….I don't…Know?" he replied with a pause in each word.

Lana stared on for a bit more, before slowly nodding her head and then shrugging, after which she went back to work.

Lincoln couldn't help but feel like there was a pun of some kind involved here, but he just wasn't sure.

He eventually steadied himself, and went back to being Lana's flashlight assistant, however, in hopes of changing starting a new topic to forget about the previous one he asked a question that was in his head earlier;

"So who's Luan?"

Lana briefly paused her work again, looked at Lincoln with a dimple expression;

"Oh you don't know her, _yet_." She replied, causing Lincoln to raise an eyebrow as she continued;

"Like I mentioned before, she loves doing pranks. Thats her thing. Pranks. Lots of pranks and Puns. Lots of Puns. I mean Lots of Puns." There was a faint quiver as she talked on

"She's basically the building's joker. And I don't mean the _happy clown joker_ kind; I mean the _completely insane_ kind, like the one from that comic book series."

"But she's not all bad, plus she's great at birthday-parties."

Lincoln nodded, while also getting a chuckle out of the _Knight-Bat_ comic series reference.

"_Joker, _huh_? _So like what, does she have an unhealthy obsession for bats?" he asked in an amused tone.

"What? No. _That's_ Lucy's thing." Lana replied, the mention of the Goth grabbing Lincoln's attention.

"Wait, You know Lucy?" He said to her, now curious.

"Uh-huh, I guess you've met her? She has a pet bat called Fangs, he's pretty cool." Answered and continued;

"I asked my parent's if I could get one too, but they said I already had enough pets for now, but they'll think about it. Oh and I guess the fact my sister Lola threw a temper-tantrum at the idea didn't help. Well, actually it was more like a temper-hurricane." She rubbed her forehead again, adding an even darker coat of black oil on it.

Lincoln again nodded as he took in everything she said, albeit a thought did cross his mind;

"_Lola huh…. Wonder if she like's basketball…"_

"But-" Lincoln was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as Lana was speaking again;

"I've heard Luan does have a thing for _baseball bats_."

"Baseball bats?" Lincoln asked, once again finding himself confused.

"Well I mean, if you've read the story." Lana replied.

"Uh…What story?" Lincoln asked as he scratched his head.

"The one where she's obsessed with her brot-" Lana stopped short of what she was going to say, she stuck her tongue out and started rubbing her chin, as if in deep thought. She also now left a dark oil stain on her chin as well.

"Actually you should probably ask Lucy about that, she likes to read that kind of stuff, and I don't really remember much of it right now." Lana concluded, and after a couple of seconds went back to work on her family's car.

Lincoln stood like a statue, staring and blinking aimlessly at the little blonde mechanic while processing her words. For the most part, he didn't quite really understand what she just explained yet at the same time it seemed just a bit… familiar.

Lincoln shrugged and returned to giving Lana lighting, it looked like she was almost done, but again, he was no expert at this so he wasn't sure.

Lincoln decided it would be best to maybe just wait until he would meet this Luan person himself and see what her so far infamous reputation is about. Heck, what could possibly go wrong?

He also made a mental note to ask Lucy about her pet bat. And that story Lana mentioned.

As a few minutes passed while Lana worked on the engine, Lincoln made a glance at the garage wall in front of him; he noticed a picture hanging on it;

It was a photo of a man, a racer it looked like, in his early twenties, maybe? He was in front of a fancy looking car -obviously his racing car. The picture was colored but it still looked a bit old, perhaps shot by a camera from the… the eighties? Early nineties? Lincoln could only guess.

As he stared on for a bit more, a quick thought crossed his mind causing him to turn to face Lana;

"Hey so, what does your dad do?" He politely asked the ever increasing dirty blonde. She really did have a mechanic's spirit.

Lana stopped her work again, turned to face Lincoln and gave a small smile after which she started to speak;

"He was a NASCAR driver way back. That's him in the picture" she said as she pointed at the same picture Lincoln was staring at a moment ago, after which she continued her explanation;

With a bit of glee in her voice, she told him about her father's racing career from back when he was younger, he was called the 'Flamboyant Hudson Stinger' during his time in NASCAR during the eighties till early nineties, and was fairly popular in the sport during his time. A two-time champion, in fact.

Lincoln admitted he wasn't really a NASCAR fan, and that her father's racing career was before his time, but he still gave his respect.

Unfortunately he eventually ended up having a rather nasty accident – although wasn't seriously injured, He had to leave racing behind for a while, he had hoped to return to it of course, but in the end simply did not find the spirit to do so and ended up retiring. Afterwards, he decided to take up studying medicine.

Lana then mentioned that he did return to the NASCAR scene at one point for a while – but not as a racer, instead as a Pit crew chief. It was a favor for a friend of his. He remained a pit crew chief for about 3 or so years before deciding to make a final retirement, and park his trunk for good, albeit this time on good terms.

Currently, as Lana explained, he works as a physician at a private clinic in the city, she offered Lincoln to come by if he or anyone in his family needed a checkup, stating that her dad was a good Doc.

Lincoln gave further respects and compliments to both her dad as well as to her – now understanding where she got her mechanic skills and ideals from, he figured the rest of the stuff she can do just came naturally in the trade.

A smiling Lana went back to work on her tune-up job, and after just another few minutes and a quick double-check of the spark plugs, she was finally done.

"And… we're done! Back again to factory new shape!" Lana declared as she put away her tools and put down the car hood, very much satisfied.

"Would you mind helping me carry it back?" She pointed at the toolbox, while giving modest puppy-eyes.

With a small smile and a long sigh, Lincoln nodded and picked up the large and heavy toolbox after Lana finished putting away her tools, He really didn't want to carry the black hole massed box, specially knowing he'd have to go all the way around the front of the building again.

But he knew those puppy-eyes too well to refuse her, courtesy of Lily. And sometimes his mom.

"Alright, let's go _Lan_." Lincoln implored her by nickname, as he held the toolbox with both his hands, he took note of the time from a clock on the wall, noting that roughly 30 minutes had passed since they started.

Lana paused for a moment, a somewhat pleasant smile coming onto her face, after which she nodded and followed suit.

"_Heh…dad calls me Lan too…" _A thought passed by her head as she headed towards Lincoln.

"_He kinda looks like him too…. Eh, minus the white hair."_

They started to walk out of the garage, Lana closing the door behind them. Lincoln took one last look at the Solar, and then glanced over to his family's garage once again sighing at the fact knowing he was stuck with his father's antiquated 'Vanzilla'. Seriously why did they have a van, especially one big enough to fit enough 13 people?

Lincoln and Lana made their way back inside the lobby, and into the elevator, making small chit-chat here and there; Lincoln told her more about his own family, his parents and what they do, his recent move to the city and his little sister as well.

He left out a certain white haired little girl, though. For now, at least.

As they continued walking, Lincoln made the occasional soft heaves and puffs due to the weight he was carrying, meanwhile Lana discussed how spiders shed their skin and the intricacies of amphibians, with Hops popping his head out of her pocket every now and then to seemingly interject as well.

She also mentioned that her mother was Australian, from a place called Essendon in the state of Victoria, Currently she works at the local city zoo as a zoologist and conservationist, and that she apparently used to be a model back in Australia. She also mentioned in a slightly sad tone that neither she nor her sister inherited their mother's Aussie accent.

"_She kinda sounds like Sid's mom… Well minus the model part…. Well, Actually….No, Bad Lincoln." _ Lincoln thought inside his head.

They had arrived at Lana's floor, as the door of the elevator opened Lincoln, peaked by curiosity turned his face towards Lana;

"Hey Lana, your sister, what's _she_ like?"

"Oh Lola? Well she's my twin-"unfortunately, Lana was cut off by a well too familiar, and pink, growl.

"**LANA!"**

Lincoln turned his head towards the ear-ravaging scream, and saw in front of him another young blonde girl, exactly the same height as Lana.

In fact, she looked almost exactly like Lana, while at the same time, she did not.

She was much more pampered, her hair was particularly well maintained, she had 2 well-kept pigtails and a headband on, a very fancy and very expensive looking headband. She also had a little cow-lick to the side of her head, much like the one he used to have.

She had eye shadow on her, something which Lana lacked, and also unlike the gritty little blonde mechanic, she had a much more clean attire – of entirely pink.

A Pink short-dress that stopped below her waist, pink stockings and arm warmers, and a pair of small pink high-heels, as opposed to Lana's simple blue sneakers.

With the amount of pink she had on her, and coupled with her blonde hair, she reminded Lincoln of a certain female video game character, the one who had an unnatural obsession with turtles and who had constant plumbing issues.

Oh, and there was one more feature about the young girl dressed in pink standing in front of him and Lana that he noticed;

A angry scowl of unholy, merciless and deathly disdain.

"Ooooh, Here we go." Lana softly mumbled with a deadpan expression.

"….. _I guess that's her sis-"_Lincoln was cut off from his thoughts with the sound of very heavy and very intimidating stomping coming towards him and Lana.

"…._Oh Boy."_

**XXXXXX**

**A/Ns**

**So I may not have been very subtle to who I referenced Lana and Lola's dad to be. **

**Don't ask how my brain came up with that. I personally blame **_**Cars**_** memes.**

**Same for their mom, I'm not very original heh.**

**P.S: The car belonging to Lana's family, "The Solar" and its manufacturer "Zanin" are from the Saints Row Series, (III and IV).**

**If anyone ever needs a Random References encyclopedia, just extract my brain. **

**Lastly, in regards to a song request made by one of the reviewers; I really didn't expect a song request of all things for my story but I believe I can do your request, by fitting it in the chapter I plan to introduce Luna in… which **_**should**_** be **_**after**_** the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/Ns: Auto: I'm grateful you've enjoyed my story, it really does mean a lot coming from you.**

**With that said, I'd like to thank everyone so far who has enjoyed reading this so far.**

**Personally, I'm surprised not many people (At least from my searching) have used the "Apartment Setting" AU more often, I think it would make for quite interesting setups if one did it properly and used some creativity.**

**I personally believe it would make good setup for a 'Sin Kids' AU.**

**XXXXXXX**

Lincoln slowly stepped away from the impending clash of the identical behemoths, the heavy toolbox still held by his two arms now acting as a makeshift shield of protection of whatever cataclysm was about to occur in front of him.

Lola, the pink entity of blistering rage and unfathomably distressing anger slowly stomped and marched her way towards her twin, Lana, who was standing still – unfazed and nearly emotionless, almost looking lax, as if this was nothing more than a mere nuisance.

Lincoln couldn't help but feel that what was about to transpire had an aura of a sort-of _duel of fate-, er, twins_ around it.

As Lola continued to make her menacing stomp-march towards her twin, Lana simply stood here, her posture made her looked calm, while her face, with half shut eyes, looked anywhere between unimpressed to bored. She was probably use to this. Lana let out a sigh;

"Oh? So we're doing this again? You're going to approach me? Slowly coming right to me?" Lana spoke to Lola dryly.

"I can't scream _your_ head off without coming closer, can I?" Lola replied fiercely, grinding her words.

"_**Oh No. Oh My God- **__Wait why am __**I**__ scared."_ Lincoln thought as he quickly shook his head, now at a fair distance from the imminent collision.

Finally, Lola was now standing right in front of Lana, her face still twisted in scowl and fury – one could almost make out the smoke coming from her nostrils, meanwhile Lana continued to stare at her un-amused. At this point Lana could give Queen Victoria a run for her money.

"_First off._" Lola spoke;

"Why do you look like a Nineteenth-Century Miner?" Lola asked in a sudden shift to a calmer tone, referring to Lana's oil covered face.

"And second off." The tone of Lola's voice shifted again, this time to the original;

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO CAGE THAT OVERGROWN GREEN MAGGOT OF YOURS?!"

The pink blonde's hailstorm of vocal ferocity were enough to almost cause a pre-mature rapture of earth, Lincoln could feel his ears ringing, as if an artillery shell had just gone off just 4 feet from him.

And Yet, Lana continued standing there, she casually put her pinky finger in her ear, casually rubbing it and then pulled her pinky out, blinking a few times;

"You mean El Diablo?..." she asked softly…

"HE'S NOT A MAGGOT." … She yelled back …her ferocity being much like her twin;

"You better had not done anything to him, or I _WILL_ get the trashcan again!"

"I _couldn't_ do anything to him! The glorified slimy gutter-pipe managed to slithered himself away before I could!" Lola bellowed in reply;

"He got into the shower while I was using it! I'm warning you Lana, he does that again I'm pinning him up like a Christmas sock!"

"Pfffft, as if you could even put a finger on him without fainting" Lana retorted with a smirk.

Lola only growled, quite menacingly, though it did nothing to deter her twin. She then grabbed the straps of Lana's overalls and pulled her closer, Lincoln was sure he could see chainsaw teeth coming out from Lola's mouth.

"How about I put a 'finger' on _you, _wrench jerker." Lola said as she grinded her teeth.

"Oh, little miss Cinderella-knockoff suddenly isn't afraid to get manicure ruined?" Lana mockingly, and rather calmly, spoke back; she also clenched her fists in preparation, as her words served only to fan the blazing flames of her confrontation with her twin.

Lincoln snapped out of whatever stupor of semi-paralyzation he was in, put down the toolbox, which made a meaty thud as it hit the ground, although the sound did not attract the attention of either twins who were locked in a death-glare with one another.

He quickly walked over to the duo and slowly reached out his arm towards Lola's shoulder, she and sister still locked in gaze.

"Hey, Hey, Let's calm down for a bi-" He was, unfortunately, cut off.

"UNHAND ME YOU PLEBIAN WASTREL!"

Another thunderous bellow came from the pink twin, so furious and damning was her wail that Lincoln could feel himself being ripped into another dimension of incomprehensible horrors.

Lincoln stood now again paralyzed. He had slightly arched backwards, his ears ringing almost deaf, and his face and eyes giving a look that seemed as if he had experienced something that no mere common human was ever intended to experience. His hand remained on Lola's shoulder, though.

Meanwhile Lola had let go and dropped her twin, and was now turning her full attention towards the white-haired teen, still steaming and taking heavy breathes from both her mouth and nose – akin to an enraged bull.

Her expression however began to slowly change, as she began to look more carefully at who was in front of her.

At first she set her eyes upon Lincoln's hand that was on her shoulder, she slowly moved her gaze across his arms and noticed that they were… a bit strong-looking.

Her angry expression changed to a curious one, as she continued to move her eyes upwards – finally setting them before the teen himself, she took in his height, his face, his look, and his unique white hair…

Her curious expression changed into an… almost gawking like expression, as she continued to intently stared white-haired boy in front of her… to her, he looked…

"…_charming..."_ her eyes briefly fluttered as she bit her bottom lip for just a moment.

Soon enough though, Lincoln finally came back to his senses, albeit slowly, dragging himself out of whatever abyssal void he had been banished to by Lola's voice;

"…_Unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes….."_

Lincoln shook his head and began attempting to stand straight, trying to steady himself as well.

He slowly took his hand off Lola's shoulder, lest he end up he sent back to the realm of death and shadows again by her monstrous screams.

"I uh… Sorry." He weakly replied, his strength still recovering. Although he was confused at the way the pink attired blonde was staring at him, A moment ago she looked like she was about to commit horrific murder, but now… he wasn't quite sure what to make of her…

Lola, who was continuing to stare at the teen with bedroom eyes, shook her head as soon as she heard his voice, she quickly glanced over to her shoulder and saw that his hand was no longer there.

"Dang it." She said in a disappointed tone as she furrowed her brows in annoyance.

She quickly turned her face towards Lincoln again, this time putting on a pleasant smile, she extended her arm towards him, presenting the dorsal side of her hand in a vertical manner.

"I apologize for my brash behavior – you see, my sister's vermin-…. _Pets_ can be prove themselves quite… bothersome to me…and drive out my patience…quite….often… ahem…" she explained to Lincoln in as well-mannered of a voice as she could. Well, she tried anyway; some of her words still came out other grinding teeth and hissing.

"My name is Lola. Lola Hudson." Lola formally introduced herself, after taking a second to recompose herself; "And yours would be?" she asked again in calm and mannered voice, a hint of sweetness in her tone also being noticeable.

"Li..Lincoln Loud." Lincoln answered her, scratching the back of his head as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing – a minute ago it looked like the devil himself had possessed the young girl in front of him, and now her entire demeanor had shifted to that of almost being… Royal?

Lincoln noticed her hand, he had seen enough Gentry themed movies and as well as taken part in enough middle-school plays to know what she was gesturing for him to do.

He leaned forward and gently held her presented hand with his own, and gave a soft and brisk kiss on it, very much how a gentleman would. Hey, if it meant she won't turn into a _daemon_ again…

"Lincoln hmm… very presidential…" She almost cooed; "Wonderful to meet you."

"Heh yea, presidential… funny story about that, I'll tell you some other time" Lincoln let out a loose smirk.

"Nice to meet you too, Lola. Your sister told me a bit about you." He added, after which he turned his attention to her twin.

Speaking of Lana, she was currently sitting on the floor next to them, her eyes glazed over and her head bobbing wildly in a circle, apparently her sister's deafening screech had left a mark on her as well.

A few moments later Lana got most of her senses back and stood up, checking her ears and dusting herself off;

"Guuuh… Dang it, I thought I would be used to her shriek-pit by now. Oh well, a few more years." Lana spoke as she set her attention to her Twin and Lincoln.

"You ok there, Lan?" Lincoln asked the little mechanic with a sincere concern in his voice.

Lana nodded in reply, while Lola only rolled over her eyes and let out an 'hmpf'

"Right so…." Lana turned her attention to her sister as she began to speak;

"Anyway Lola sorry about El Diablo sneaking up on you, he probably got into the vents again, I'll have a talk with him."

"Right well… I'll accept your apology for now." Lola replied as she took a pause to give a glance and smile towards Lincoln; "Just make sure it doesn't happen _again."_ She finished with a hiss.

"Yea yea, Hopefully El Diablo isn't _too_ traumatized from seeing _you_ naked in the shower." Lana nonchalantly said as she went over to pick up the toolbox Lincoln and dropped down.

"Whateve- HEY!" Lola snapped her head towards her twin, again.

Lincoln stepped in between the twins yet again, gesturing both of them to calm down, although it took a very intense minute – things became cool again.

Funny really, a few moments ago they were about to impale each other's heads on spikes and now they had just apologized and were willing to behave, even if the peace seemed fragile. Lincoln had heard and read about how severe fights between twins can get and how they can switch on a dime and go back to being normal. This was his first time actually witnessing it firsthand, though.

"Well anyway Linc, thanks for all the help today but I can take it from here" Lana said as she lifted the heavy toolbox with a bit of struggle, her apartment only being a few feet away.

"No problem Lana, you sure you got that?" Lincoln asked, still willing to lend an extra hand.

Lana nodded that she was fine, and rather clumsily made her way towards her apartment door.

"Help?" Lola inquired as she turned towards Lincoln.

"I helped Lana out with tuning-up your family's car. Well, more like I held a flashlight for half an hour but... You know. Yea." Lincoln shrugged with a weak smile.

"Ah…well... aren't you chivalrous… " Lola again almost cooed;

"I guess that explains why her face looks like burned charcoal, should've known" she glanced at her twin's face.

"Maybe you'd be willing to help me out as well sometime?" She held her hands together and made a few slow blinks, now looking back at Lincoln.

"Sure, I guess?" Lincoln replied a bit unsure.

"Hey Lola" Lana suddenly spoke with a grunt;

"Is there anything good waiting in the kitchen? I'm starving here."

Lola let out a sigh; "No, you're just gonna have to microwave those turkey sandwiches from last night. And DO NOT go looking in the trash for something else."

"Aww… Man…" Lana let out her own sigh.

A thought clicked in Lincoln's head, as he reminded himself of the money his dad had given him earlier, which had preemptively left by his mom.

"Hey." Lincoln got both of the twin's attention as he spoke;

"My parents gave me cash to spend, and since we still have plenty of daytime left, we can out to eat, that is, if you two are ok with it… and if you know a place to eat… I'm still new to the city."

The twins first looked at each other with a neutral expression, before turning their heads back towards Lincoln with a wide smile.

"You bet!" Lana happily yelled out as she started to bolt into her apartment, after the sound of a loud thud being made inside, presumably the toolbox, she came running back out again – all within dozen seconds.

"Normally I don't go out to eat with some with common rabble…." Lola paused;

"…But in your case…I'd be delighted, Lincoln." She gave a courtesy bow.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's head go! We know this great place a few blocks from here!" Lana excitedly spoke as she lined herself up with her twin.

"Wait" Lincoln raised up his hand;

"I'd like for you and I to get cleaned up first, I mean you really do look like you came out of a mine shaft…"

"Aw but Lincoln, come on…" Lana whined.

"Lana, I'm not sure if a restaurant would even let you in with how much oil you have on your face, out of health concerns."

"Ugh… Fine…" Lana let out another sigh and started slowly walking back to her apartment to wash up; "See you guys in lobby in a bit."

Lincoln nodded back as Lana walked away; meanwhile Lola was blankly staring at her twin;

"_Did… did he just convince her to get cleaned… without having to drag her to the shower?..." _ Lola thought inside her head.

"Hey so, meet you guys in the lobby in about… 10 minutes?" Lincoln said to the pink blonde, causing her to snap out of her momentary day-dreaming;

"Yea sure… Looking forward to it, Linc…" she replied.

With another Nod, Lincoln went back into the elevator and headed for his floor and apartment, while Lola went back inside to her apartment as well; waiting on her twin to get cleaned up.

As Lincoln went back into his apartment, he was inquired by his father on why he was back so soon, Lincoln informed him and the twins he met, and that they were going out to eat, and that he was just getting cleaned-up before they go.

Although Lynn Sr was again glad that his son was making more new friends, he again inquired Lincoln about why he needed to get cleaned-up, to which Lincoln replied that he had helped one of the twins fix their family's car. Lincoln left out the detail that all he did was hold up a flashlight.

After getting a very quick shower, Lincoln went to his room to checkup on Lila, who was currently soundly and happily napping away in her crib. Lincoln gave her a soft nuzzle and kiss on the side of her head, careful not to wake her up, after adjusting her blanket; he slowly left his daughter in her peaceful slumber.

Lincoln then left the apartment, bidding another farewell to his father for the day, and made his way to the elevator, taking it down to the lobby.

There he saw Lana and Lola bother already waiting for him, Lana, who was still wearing her red cap, had mostly cleaned up, at least from what Lincoln could see.

Lola looked like she had freshened up a little as well, she was no longer wearing her pink arm warmers, allowing Lincoln to take a good look at her very-well done nail-polish, which was of course, pink. Besides that, it seemed she had applied a little bit of makeup too, eh, girls will be girls, he thought.

After waving and joining up with them He and the two twins began making their way out, only for Lana to hold her hand up and gesturing for them to stop, just as they reached the front door.

"Hey wait, hold up" Lana exclaimed.

"Ugh, Lana I told you to use the bathroom before we left!" Lola mildly whined in annoyance.

"Something the matter, Lan?" Lincoln asked, with a slight hint of worry.

"Yea…just… hangon…." Lana said with a grunt;

Lana let out a few more grunts, rubbing her stomach at the same time, and after a few seconds she let out a _peculiar_ sound, followed by a content sigh.

A peculiar sound which was followed by a very peculiar stench.

She had let out a Fart. Smelled like…. Dog food?

"Alright, I'm good, let's go." She said with a satisfied smile, and started walking out the front door of the building, though after a few steps she realized neither her sister or Lincoln were with her, thus she went back to the lobby;

"Hey! You guys coming or what?" She asked, but received no reply.

The reason for her not receiving any reply was due to the fact that both Lincoln and Lola were in a state of petrifaction. And maybe partial Rigor mortis.

Lola had her nails almost dug into her face, her eyes watery and she looked like she was half way to choking;

"_WHY DO THE GODS KEEP FORSAKING ME."_ She screamed in her mind.

Lincoln meanwhile had a face that looked like it was the inspiration for Edvard Munch's portrait, _The Scream_.

"_So…So is this what Nova 6 is like…." _he thought to himself as his eyes twitched.

Lana only continued to stare on with a furrowed brow of mild confusion.

An infinity later, when the air became clearer and both Lincoln and Lola regained their consciousness, the trio began to slowly walk out of the building, With Lincoln having to step in again between Lola and Lana, as the former twin wanted to skewer the latter for her, ahem, 'sudden release of toxic compounds'.

Lincoln managed to calm things down between the two, thus effectively stopping the twins from starting another world war for the third time today. God, were these two always such a handful?

The restaurant the twins wanted to head to turned out to be bit of a long walk, Lincoln didn't mind, more chance for him to get used to the city.

Nothing particularly eventful happened on their way there, well, except for Lana occasionally peeking into an alley way and taking a long sniff, and occasionally intently staring at a fire hydrant or two.

Lincoln would keep his face neutral, although internally he would be very confused. Lola meanwhile would just look annoyed, disappointed or would just face palm, each accompanied by a sigh. She was probably use to this.

On the way Lola made a brief mention of her 'illustrious' pageantry career to Lincoln, but said she'd talk about it more when they finally sat down to eat.

"Hey so, who's El Diablo?" Lincoln asked out of curiosity.

"My pet snake." Lana replied.

"Oh, Alrig- What." Lincoln stopped in his tracks.

In the conversation that followed, Lana went on to explain more about the pets she owned to Lincoln, besides Hops the Frog and now El Diablo the Snake, She had two lizards named Izzy and Rebecca, a rat named Bitey and lastly, a pet flea named Brad, who lived in her arm pit.

Although Lincoln chuckled at the last one and had to admit that was clever name, he did, with some concern ask how she was allowed to have all these kinds of pets in an apartment, Lana replied that the landlord owed her and her father a few favors for helping fix up the apartment building and other maintenance related stuff, and with a few specially signed permits from city hall she was allowed to keep her long list of pets.

She mentioned she also had a bunch of pets in the zoo where her mom worked as well; at this point Lincoln realized why her parents didn't let her have a pet bat. Although this brought up the question as to why Lucy had a pet bat.

All the while of their talk, Lola maintained a displeased face.

"We're here!" the twins both exclaimed simultaneously, and bolted towards the restaurant, which was now in sight, Lincoln however maintained a slower pace and got a better look of the place and its surroundings;

It was a fairly big restaurant, big windows all around, and a slanted, wavy roof. Surrounded by a parking lot, it had a drive through at one side as well. Yea, your slightly above-average modern fast-food place.

Lola and Lana seemed pretty excited about it though, so Lincoln figured it must at least serve some good food, Lincoln then turned his head towards the large sign on top of the restaurant's roof, which displayed it's name;

"_Otto Matta's Grand Food Palace!_" The sign read out in giant letters of red, accompanied by flashing lights, Lincoln then looked down at the restaurant slogan just below its name;

"_Where big families come to eat together, and become close together, very close!"_

"O…K….then…" Lincoln softly whispered out loud.

Lincoln joined up with the twins who were already waiting for him at the front door, they all went in, and choose an anchored booth seat off to the side, Lincoln took note that the place was pretty packed, so it had to be fairly popular.

They settled in their seats, Lincoln having taken his next to Lola on one side, with Lana by herself on the other, she didn't mind though, and certainly neither did Lola.

A minute later a waitress came by to take their orders, Lana ordered her 'usual'; two 'number six' burgers and large fries, all with extra grease.

Lola, after wiping off the cringe on her face because of her sister's order, ordered a few club sandwiches.

Finally, Lincoln simply ordered what Lana was having; a single number six burger and large fries, albeit preferably with as little as grease as possible.

Whilst looking at the menu, Lincoln noticed that this place had a extremely wide variety of fast foods available, everything from Burgers to Pizzas to Hotdogs and even Tacos, all under one roof. He also noted that the menu consisted almost entirely exclusively of fast food. The epitome of American culture.

While making a passing glance at the drinks section of the menu, Lincoln noticed a unique deal for milkshakes;

"_Otto Matta's sibling special! 25% off for any sister buying her brother a milkshake!"_

Lincoln found it an oddly specific and peculiar kind of discount, but concluded that it was sort of neat; maybe he could get Lily to get him a milkshake if he were ever thirsty.

For some inexplicable reason, Lincoln found himself feeling unease at the idea. He couldn't figure out why, a sister giving her brother a milkshake, what's so odd about that?

Eh, maybe he was just really hungry.

As they waited for their meals to arrive Lincoln turned his attention towards Lola;

"So Lola, you said you'd tell me more about your pageant career?"

Lola let out a wide, toothy grin, while Lana let out a long sigh and then proceeded to smack her head against the table after which Lola began to indulge Lincoln about herself.

What followed next was an intricate, elaborate and perhaps well-practiced monologue of Lola describing her prestigious pageantry career, which ranges from local to regional and state shows and competitions. She would continue her 'speech' even after their meals had arrived.

Lola added she started her pageantry career at 4, but she was of course, born with natural beautiful and the 'acumen' to utilize it to its fullest.

Lastly she mentioned that she had currently won the regional pageant 3 years in a row, and went on to make a point that she maintained a near-perfect record. She also made a reference to her mother's early modeling career, just like Lana did earlier.

Lincoln ate his meal and intently listened on, meanwhile Lana made the occasional gagging gestures during Lola's prideful lecture. Having her face stuffed with her extra-greasy meal only served to add emphasis on her silent protest.

After Lola finished her monologue, Lana mentioned that Lola had in fact lost a regional pageant once when she was six, to which Lola replied with a demonic growl and gaze, Lana once again unmoved by her twin's intimidation. Lincoln swore he saw Lola's hair starting to levitate and become pointed, like there was some unholy power emanating from her from her contempt at the moment.

Sometime later, they finished their meals finished, cleaned themselves up and left after Lincoln paid for food. Lincoln had to admit, the food was pretty damn good.

And it was guaranteed to be healthier than Flip's burgers from back in Royal Woods, though that wasn't exactly a high standard to measure on.

As Lincoln and the twins started making their way home, Lola passed a glance towards a crack on the sidewalk after which she quickly passed her glace to Lincoln, more specifically to his arms. His strong arms. An idea had hatched into her head.

As she approached the crack, she purposefully placed the tip of her high heel into it, causing her to fall knee first onto the ground, she then let out a pained yelp.

"Yikes! You good sis?" Lana quickly asked her twin following her fall.

"Ouch, you OK there?" Lincoln asked with concern as he knelt down to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Externally, Lola had a face of pain and grief, complimented further by watery eyes and modest tears and quivering lips.

Internally however, she was cracking the widest grin she had possibly ever cracked.

"… _Just as planned…"_ She thought in her head, as she continued with her scheme.

"I…I think I hurt my knee!" She exclaimed with a pained voice, with clutching her knee with both her hands.

"Ouch... Well, do you mind if I check to see how bad it is?" Lincoln asked her sincerely, pointing towards her hurt knee.

"Oh well..uhm… sure…" Lola replied in a shaky voice."

Lola, in a particularly dramatic fashion, slowly stretched out her leg towards Lincoln, while also putting one of her hands to her forehead, much like a damsel in distress.

Lincoln took a close look at Lola's knee, and judged her injury to be a fairly minor scratch, no blood albeit quite a bit red on the skin. Even Lily could be able to stand something like this;

"It's nothing bad Lola, really, it's just a scratch"

"Gotta agree sis, I've seen and gotten plenty worse." Lana added.

Lola gave her sister a quick sneer-like expression before turning her attention back towards Lincoln; "But… but Lincoln! It really hurts!... You...You know… I'm not used to getting hurt like this!" she sniffled.

"I…I don't think I can walk back home in pain like this…." Lola moaned, with a whimper at the end and her eyes becoming teary.

Clutching her knee once again, she looked directly at Lincoln with one of the most sorrowful and widest puppy-eyes the boy had seen, not even Lily or his mom had ever pulled that kind of emotion off.

Lincoln set out a long sigh and then looked straight at the 'injured' little blonde;

"Do you… want me to piggyback you home?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"Oh you're kind to offer Lincoln…. But I think being carried on your back might on…um…aggravate the pain…yea…that's right…ahem." Lola replied, any pain in her voice suddenly fading away.

"Then what do you suppose we do?" Lincoln asked rubbing his forehead.

"Oh I still want you to carry me…. Just… differently." A wide smirk began to appear on Lola's lips.

"_Differently?" _Lincoln questioned her.

All the while this exchanged happened, Lana silently stared at her twin sibling with a neutral expression, while withholding her building suspicion.

A minute later, Lincoln and Lola were walking down the street heading back to their apartments, Lola was with them too, of course, but she wasn't _walking_ with them.

More to the point, she was currently resting comfortably in Lincoln's arms as he carried her due to her knee 'injury', specifically he was carrying her in a bridal carry, as per her deman- erm, request.

"If anyone asks, I'm saying you're my sister or something." Lincoln informed Lola, continuing his current trend of keeping a monotone voice.

"Mmm….I don't mind…" she almost purred with a pleased smirk, her plan having succeeded.

As the group made their way, Lana stared at her happily nestled twin sister with a stink-eye, to which Lola replied with a wide, toothy grin. Lincoln remained oblivious to their exchange.

Nothing much happened during their walk for the next several minutes, that is, up until;

"OW!" Came a shout accompanied with the sound of a thud.

Lincoln, with Lola still in his arms quickly turned back, to see that Lana had tripped and fallen, as it would appear, knee first.

He looked behind her to see an empty soda can rolling by, is that what she tripped on?

"You OK Lana?" he asked as he walked to her, although Lola didn't say anything.

"Uh…Ah… yea… dang it… Should've seen where I was going huh...heh…" she answered, her voice a little shaky with a faint tone of pain;

"I…I think I hurt my knees…they um…hurt really bad…"

"Will you be able to walk back home?" Lincoln tilted his head, now why did this sound oh so familiar?

"I… I don't think so… it hurts _really_ bad… like I _really_ bad…could…could you help me out?" Lana spoke while she took off her red cap and held it against her chest with one hand, while messaging her hurt knee with the other; she gave Lincoln a pair of wide puppy eyes and a wide smile.

Lincoln found himself unimpressed with his _Déjà vu moment, but obliged to her nonetheless; "Let me guess… I assume you don't want me to call a cab for you, right?"_

Lana slowly shook her head.

"You know I only have two arms, right?" he gestured towards his arms which were still firmly carrying Lola, who was known making a wincing stare at her twin.

"….I don't mind riding on your back." Lana replied with a shot sweetened innocence in her voice.

Lincoln let out on a prolonged sigh, turned around and gestured towards the little blonde to get on his back which she eagerly obliged. Curious, since she just said she had hurt her knee.

As Lincoln carried them both back home, Lana, with a pleased smirk of her own, glanced down from Lincoln's shoulder at her twin, who was now giving her own stink-eye, with perhaps a bit of extra annoyance.

"Why. You. Little." Lola slowly mouthed her words, not making a sound.

"Suck. It. Princess." Lana silently mouthed back.

The two would remain in a deadlock stare down as they also tried to enjoy their current mode of transportation.

For Lincoln, he did not notice the twin's shenanigans and focused more on keeping a stable and brisk pace, not wanting to make matters worse by tripping and falling, he wasn't struggling in particular, as he was strong enough and carrying Lily and Lila around had given him plenty of practice, but even so, carrying around two ten year olds was quite a bit different than carrying a 6 year-old and a toddler.

Some twenty-minutes later, they had finally arrived back to their apartment building, made their way inside and up the elevator; the twins remained latched onto to Lincoln, until finally they arrived at Lincoln's floor, which was the first they came across.

Several seconds later, the twins were now standing perfectly fine on their own, Lincoln was suspicious, but he was much more relieved he was done being a chariot.

As the trio stood outside Lincoln's apartment; all three of them held out their phones.

"All right so, I got your numbers and you have mine, call me anytime you guys wanna hang out again or if you need my help for somethin' " Lincoln said to the twins as he put away his phone and knocked at his door.

"Will do Linc, and thanks for buying us food, I had a great time." Lana cheerfully informed him as she put her own phone away.

"I appreciated your gesture too, Lincoln. And trust me, I _thoroughly_ enjoyed our time together." Lola added.

"Yea well… I had a…. fun experience too." Lincoln let out a faint smile and rolled his eyes.

Lincoln's door opened to his mother, which meant she and Lily were back from their day out, she quickly invited him in before going back to one of her novels.

"Anyway, it was fun meeting you both, hope to hangout again soon, See ya." Lincoln gave one final farewell salute and went into his apartment, closing the door behind him.

"See ya Linc!" the twins both shouted back.

Following which, they both snapped their heads towards each other's;

"I CANNOT believe you copied my idea!" Lola accusingly whined to her twin

"Pfft, we're twins remember? Besides, I wasn't gonna let you hog him, he was enjoying spending time with me more anyway." Lana retorted

"Hah! With you, mud-mouth? He was obviously _and_ gratefully enjoying his time with me, much like any gentleman would."

"First of all, like I've said a billion times to you, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of mud in your diet." Lana said matter-of-factly before continuing;

"Second of all, you were driving him to tears with your usual pageant soap-opera stories."

"Oh get over it, just because you don't understand beaut-"

"I take it you've both met Lincoln?"

The conversation between the twins ended prematurely by the sudden voice, as upon hearing it, Lola would jump into the air perform a perfect moon somersault, and then fall into Lana's arms, Meanwhile all the hairs on Lana's body and head would rise and stiffen into spikes, similar in the manner of an angry cat.

Lana, while holding onto her twin, would slowly turn around towards the origin of the voice.

"LUCY!"

Stood in front of them was the residential Goth and expert in giving cardiac arrests, Lucy, alongside her was Lynn, who herself had a face of frightened horror and was clutching her chest.

"… Lynn? You were standing right next to me... how did you even get scar-"Lucy was cut off by Lynn, who raised a finger to her.

"Force… Of… Habit…" Lynn answered her, taking heavy breaths in between words.

A few more breaths later, Lynn and the twins recomposed themselves.

"Any…anyway…" began speaking, her voice still just a bit shaky;

"Yea we did meet him, he helped me with my dad's car and then spent the rest of the day with us, and we went to eat at Otto's."

"I think he mentioned already meeting you, Lucy?"

Lucy nodded back; "I met him on the roof a couple days ago, we've spent some time there in the past two days, and he even helped me with my poetry."

"And you?" Lola said as she pointed her towards Lynn.

"Met him yesterday, we hung out, played basketball, ate some sandwiches, was pretty fun." Lynn informed the twins;

"He's pretty good at basketball actually, of course not as good as me."

"Didn't he almost beat you?" Lucy interjected Lynn's half-compliment half gloat.

"Zip it." Lynn replied with an unamused expression and tone.

"Ugh, he met you two _before_ he met me?" Lola rolled her eyes, looking almost offended.

"I don't think he planned on running into us." Lucy remarked.

"Whatever, I suppose he can make up for it by spending more time with me~"

"Sure, sure…" Lana added a healthy dose of sarcasm in the conversation then turned to face Lucy;

"So anyway, us and Linc had a great time, he's pretty cool."

"And strong~" Lola chimed in.

"Did he tell you about his daughter?" Lynn let out the fact in the open, were her blunt tone anymore blunt, it would be considered a pre-historic relic.

The silence in the hallway became out right deafening, where one could hear the very air move, the twins being stunned, shock and astounded meanwhile Lucy slowly turned her head towards her longtime friend, her face remained emotionless and neutral as it always does, but internally she really wanted to slap Lynn's head off her shoulders.

"isn't….isn't… he..like… sixteen?" Lana finally broke the dense silence, she spoke taken aback.

"He is." Lucy softly replied, her gaze still sternly focused on Lynn who was getting rather unnerved, and looked like she was about to say something.

Lola raised her eyebrow and put hand on her chin, although she was just as much caught off guard by this knowledge about Lincoln, she only had one question run through her mind;

"Is he still single?"

Suddenly everyone's heads snapped immediately at her direction, all in dumbfounded disbelief, even Lucy had her mouth slightly agape. However even after several moments none of them spoke, they continued to stare at Lola who, after looking around puzzled, finally opened her mouth again;

"….What? If a girl likes a product she sees, she at least has to know if it's on the market…. So what if it comes with a few… accessories."

Lana face palmed herself. Hard.

Lucy and Lynn's stupor only widened, as the two briefly passed a glance to one another before looking back at Lola again.

At least she wasn't judging him, right?

After Lincoln bid farewell to the twins he started walking towards the couch where his mom and his daughter were sitting, meanwhile his dad was busy cooking away dinner once again, looked like it was seafood today, and finally Lily was putting away all the things she had bought today, no doubt a cross of video-game related items and drawing supplies.

"Daa!" Once again the little toddler joyously squeed at the sight of her father, who took her in his arms and pressed her against his chest, taking a seat next to his mother.

Lincoln's really did enjoy the time he spent with the Lana and Lola today, even if he did prove to be a taxing experience, and he wasn't particularly thrilled about having been turned into a human forklift.

But did the two really have to move so much when he was carrying them? Lana occasionally nuzzling him on the shoulder was one thing, she was probably tired, but was all the fidgeting Lola doing necessary?

Sure, she might have just been moving around to getter better comfortable, but it was her idea to be carried like that.

Still sometimes it almost felt as if she was purposefully… rubbing her butt… against his arm…

"_LINCOLN, SHE'S TEN."_

Lincoln snapped his eyes back open, slightly shook his head and took a deep breath. He was just imagining things. He really ought to control that imagination of his…

"You had a fun day, honey?" Rita politely asked her son with a smile.

"Yea… tell you what mom; I'm glad I only have _one_ sister to worry about, can't imagine handling more." Lincoln replied to his mother.

Rita slowly nodded her head, albeit she was very much confused at what exactly he meant.

The rest of the evening progressed at it normally would. Everyone gathered around for dinner and went about talking about their day; Lynn Sr talked about the dinner he had made, and as well as about the Apple-Cabbage stew he was making earlier, going into explicit detail about the benefits from the dish.

Rita and Lily went on to talk about their day at the mall and around the city, Rita making a point that she was able to keep a much more keen eye on their daughter, making sure she didn't end up looking at anything she wasn't supposed to, much of her attention being directed towards her husband, who once again simply and sorrowfully pouted and looked down.

Lily excitedly made a mention of continuing her RPG video-game from tomorrow; The Little Blonde Assassin Adventures were to continue yet again.

Lincoln went on to tell his sister and parents about his day, and told them about how'd met the twins and spent the day with them. Although the twins were quite a bit younger than him, Lincoln's parents were still happy that he was continuing to make new friends and adjusting himself, plus with Lana and Lola being closer in age to Lily; it gave her some potential to make some friends for herself, too.

For Lily's part she said that they sounded fun and looked forward to meeting them whenever she could.

Lila simply stared on at everyone on the dinner table as they ate their food and held their discussions, she may not understanding what they were talking about but she was happy and smiling nonetheless, and the one thing that made her smile the most was the tall, white haired figure next to her that she called 'Daa', her father.

And he gladly gave her a smile in return every chance and glace he got.

The night progressed, everyone cleaned up and then went to bed, exchanging their goodnights and tucking themselves in.

It was now a few minutes pass eleven at night, Lincoln sat on his bed with his phone, with Lila peacefully sleeping away in her crib, blanket and all.

Music was playing from upstairs again much like earlier today, accompanied by the same female singing voice, but again it wasn't loud – just enough to be heard, in fact it was a little enjoyable, as Lincoln was casually bobbing his head sideways enjoying the tune, he could recognize it as well – it was Mick Swagger song.

As to why someone was still playing songs this late at night in an apartment, Lincoln could only wonder, of course he gets the luck of having to live under them…

Lincoln was currently going through all the replies he had received from the texts he had sent out to his friends earlier, almost everyone one of them had texted back, Even Chandler, admittedly his reply was a picture of him enjoying himself at his family vacation in Hawaii that his parents had booked in advance, thanks to his dad getting a promotion at the sewage plant.

He and Lincoln didn't exactly start off on the right foot with each other when they met in elementary school, but they _eventually_ did become friends, he was even supportive of Lincoln on a few occasions. He could still be a dick though.

Clyde even sent a couple of pictures of the house that belonged to the relatives he and his dads were visiting, it looked pretty old-school, 1800s construction maybe?

It looked like the only people that didn't reply were Liam and Stella; Liam's case not being surprising, he was visiting his farm cousins in Minnesota, his phone, and likely any other non-farming related tech probably wasn't really on his mind as a top priority.

As for Stella, well… Lincoln didn't really know, he remembers her looking pretty tired for most of last month, but he figured maybe that was a combination of school finals and her habit of staying up late tinkering away whatever she could that had any ounce of technology in it, by the start of summer, she almost looked nearly exhausted, oddly, Lincoln couldn't help but find her demeanor just a tad bit familiar.

For now, she was probably just spending most of the day sleeping in to gain back some rest, oh well, she'll reply when she wants to.

Finally, Lincoln had gotten a reply from both Bobby and Ronnie Anne as well, which reminded him…

He sent a text to Ronnie Anne, asking her if she wanted to talk right now, pretty unlikely given that it was well past eleven but you never kno-

And then Lincoln's phone began buzzing, accompanied with a picture of Ronnie.

"Speak of the _Cazadora_ and she will answer…"

With a modest smile, Lincoln proceeded to swipe the green answer button;

"Hey Ronnie."

"Well well, if it isn't the city boy, you doing good?" Ronnie Anne spoke as she lay back on her living room couch.

"Great to hear and see you too, Ronnie. And yea, I'm doing good, First day started off sour but so far I've able to have some fun, how have you been?"

"Yea yea, nice to hear from you too, Linc, anyways I've enjoying my summer best I can, as much as possible with my family anyway."

"Well, I can't relate with the last bit, don't even know how you can cope with that, ahem, _Gigante _family of yours." Lincoln let out a slight grin, to which Ronnie Anne only gave an unimpressed stare.

"Anyway, how are Nikki, Sid and Ade?" he asked.

"Answer depends, you still got a crush on Nikki?" A sly grin now appeared on Ronnie's face.

"Hey, that was a onetime thing!"

"Chill Lame-O, I'm just pulling. Hell even Nikki was a little flattered when you made that face of yours when she took off her hoodie for the first time in front of you." Ronnie's smug unwavering.

"Ronnie this was like 5 years ago, seriously."

"And that time you saw her in her new one-piece at the beach just a few years ago?" she retorted.

"Man, you must really like blondes, huh?" she continued teasing him.

"I…Uh…well…" Lincoln looked frantically around his room and away from his phone, preferring to avoid any eye-contact for the moment, Ronnie could only let out a laugh.

"You really haven't changed all that much, you know?" Ronnie Anne paused as she took in the moment with a smile; "Whatever, but anyway, Nikki's doing fine – don't see her much at the skate park since her folks got her doing a full-time job like Bobby for the summer."

"Sid helps her mom out more at the town zoo, though I think she's biting off more than she can chew.

"And Adelaide is doing good too, she does miss Lily though."

"Right, I got a few messages from them today, but I wanted to hear about them directly from you too."

"Tell 'em I said Hi, and tell Ade Lily misses her too."

"You still got her hooked to video games? _dios míos _you're gonna ruin her."

"Are you still mad she beat you at Muscle Fis-" Lincoln found himself unable to finish his sentence as Ronnie Anne glared daggers at him at the mention of the fighting video games

"Anyway…. How are your folks? And how's that little _algodón_, Lila?" She asked after calming herself down again.

"Mom and Dad are fine, still preparing themselves for their new Jobs…" A small smile began appearing on his face.

"And as for Lila… See for yourself." He started turning his phone around, to point at Lila's crib.

Ronnie Anne looked through her phone's screen and saw the little toddler snoozing away whilst hugging her blanket, the moonlight from the window and the light from Lincoln's screen providing just enough to give her a clear view, she couldn't see all of her face, as some of it was buried into her blanket, but she could still see innocence the little girl projected from herself.

If only things had turned out differently, she began to wonder…

Maybe things could still turn out differently, After all she had forgiven Lincoln, right?

She didn't hold a grudge against him, anymore, and she certainly didn't hold a grudge against his daughter…

Maybe they could try… to go back to how it used to be… how they used to be…

But could she? And more importantly, did she really, truly want to?

Did Lincoln want to?

As Lincoln began turning the phone and camera towards him, Ronnie quickly shook her head and snapped out of her thoughts, she'd have plenty of summer to think about it…

"She's still as beautiful as ever, Lincoln… You should be proud." Ronnie kindly spoke with a fond little smile.

Lincoln looked away from his phone and let out a sigh, his smile fading away;

"I…. I am proud….of Lila."

After a brief pause the two friends began talking again, keeping their conversation modest for the most part, and expressing a desire to see each other again before summer's over, during their talk Lincoln had taken notice that the music that was playing from upstairs had stopped as well.

After a few minutes, the two gave each other their sincere farewells; Lincoln put away his phone, and took one last habitual glance at Lila, and once again adorning himself with a faint but solemn smile.

As Lincoln laid down his head to rest however, music once again started playing from upstairs again.

But this time it wasn't a rock song like from SMOOCH or Mick Swagger, it was different. It was Familiar.

_You know  
I've always been collected, calm and chill  
And you know  
I never look for conflict for the thrill  
But if I'm feeling  
Someone stepping towards you, can't describe  
Just what I'm feeling_

This wasn't the first time he had heard it in a female voice, Heh, he always found it funny when a girl sang it,

_For you, I'd go  
Step to a dude much bigger than me  
For you, I know  
I would get messed up, weigh 153  
For you  
I would get beat to smithereens_

Yea, He knew this song well. Very well. In fact, he himself had sang it on a few occasions…

_You know  
I'll be in the corner taking notes  
And you know  
I got your six while you're working votes  
But if I'm feeling  
Someone stepping towards you, can't describe  
Just what I'm feeling_

He liked the song sure, but it really wasn't a favorite of his, though…

_I would get beat to…  
You know I had to do one._

But it was a favorite… of _Hers…._

_You know I had to do one on the record for her like this._

Lincoln began to feel a cold sensation… like a sense of cold building inside his chest, like jagged ice-spikes were stabbing him from the inside…

Something he'd felt a million times over by now… he was use to it.

_For you, I'd go  
Write a slick song just to show you the world  
For you, I know  
They think it's messed up to sell out for your girl._

Odd really, Aren't pleasant memories suppose to make you feel warm and happy… to make you feel calm?

Ha. He knew better than that… He learned it the hard way…

Tonight was gonna be a long, long night…

_For you,  
I would get beat to smithereens._

But Lincoln had to admit one thing… He had to admit that the person that was singing this song upstairs…

"_Man…whoever it is, they're pretty damn good…."_

**XXXXXXX**

**A/Ns: The song used near the end is "Smithereens" by Twenty One Pilots, some requested that I put it in the story so I figured here was the best place as any.**

**In case you're wonder, I did in fact make LoudAutomata make a cameo in the story in the form of a fast-food restaurant. (Otto Matta's… Get it?)**

**No, I'm not calling him fat.**

**Additionally, I also made a shameless reference to one of his recently released (M-rated) stories as well…**

**Let's hope I didn't inspire him to do something involving Lily and Linc- **

**Ah shi-**

**Now, the next chapter will introduce Luna and it may turn out to be a bit of a long chapter, unfortunately this means it might take a while before I publish it, Can't say exactly how long but I would say you can expect it in about less than a month or so.**

**PS: Proof-reading a long chapter is tedious work, and although I took my time, there are probably still some mistakes in here that I failed to notice – any help in pointing them out so I can edit and fix them is much appreciated for anyone willing, thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N''s: Sorry for the unannounced and long hiatus, I guess I have some explaining to do. Long story short:**

**Back in November (2019) I ended up getting a nasty injury to the face around the mouth (thankfully nothing permanent) which lead to a long recovery, followed by the holidays and then combined with all the recent events, life has been a bit hectic.**

**With that said, things have calmed down somewhat for me so I'm hoping to write some more. Again, sorry for taking this long to update this story but better late than never.**

**A small thanks to everyone/anyone still interested in this story.**

_The nearly unending wave of humanity filled the landscape of Lake Michigan's beach, under the flow of timid cool air along with the plentiful warmth from the sun, as it was the springtime of March._

_The weekend ensured a busy day at beach – not only that however, but it also happened to spring break, ushering even more of an audience for the ocean than the usual._

_Away from the Masses however, at the far end length of the beach, stood, an almost isolated a young, white-haired boy who clutched dearly onto a small toy rabbit with both his hands, as if afraid for his life._

_The Six (and a half!) year old boy, Lincoln Loud, and his mom and dad – now along with their recent addition of a daughter, Lily – did not visit the beach often, for one it required the right circumstances, specifically neither of Lincoln's parents having to work and he himself free of anything school related, and another reason was that the drive was unavoidably and boringly long._

_Lincoln particularly wasn't a fan of long drives in his father's beloved family van._

_No, seriously, why did they need a full-size van for a family of three- er, four? Whatever. The thing was pretty old – his dad had to give it up eventually and get a new car, right?_

_Lincoln's current predicament of being alone came from him having separated from the beach spot his parents had picked out and thus becoming lost._

_All of this being the result of a particular crab grabbing onto one of Lincoln's comics when he wasn't looking – resulting in a long winded chase across the breath of the beach that may or may not have featured some various forms of slapstick comedy related misfortunes for both the boy and crab._

_Though for anyone watching that managed to catch a glimpse of the scene it was probably really damn funny._

_Lincoln thankfully managed to snag the comic back from the crab and it was thankfully undamaged, mostly. As for himself, any injuries he sustained, which there were many, during the chase seemed to have had disappeared. Slapstick Magic._

_But his relief very quickly turned into fear, dread and anxiety as he came to realize to where he was – in that he didn't know where he was._

_He was at some far end corner of the beach, his family nowhere in sight, a floodwall of strangers in front of him, he only had a general idea of what direction he came from, and even then he wasn't too sure._

_Panic and fear took him and made him essentially paralyzed, as he continued to clench his little plush rabbit with a death grip, helplessly wondering what he was going to do now._

_But for a brief moment, an acute surge of determination took over his mind and thus he started thinking of a plan to find and get back to his parents, but his options were not great. In fact, his only real option was to walk back in the vague, general direction that he had come from, to the best of his memory._

_But he had to try, right? He wasn't gonna find mom and dad just standing here now was he?_

_Alas the moment of determination did prove brief._

_Lincoln wasn't a coward – he was as intrepid as any boy his age would be, well perhaps a little less… but still he could do this right?... right?_

_All those people…. All those grown-ups….strangers…. who knows how long he'll have to walk? Who knows if he's going in the right direction? What if he just falls unconscious from being tired because of walking too much? What if he runs into Bad people, like those villains that Ace Savvy has to fight almost constantly?_

_So he continued to stand there, his only hope this nightmare fixes itself. Yeah, right._

_Lincoln felt ashamed, He didn't wanna be afraid. He wanted to be brave. A man, after all he was a big brother now, he had a little sister now, whom he was duty-bound to protect like any good big brother would, how could he do that if was scared of just walking around the beach?_

_Lincoln looked intently at his toy bunny with tear filled eyes, doing his damndest to hold back his actual tears from covering his face, trying his best to stay composed, as his legs continued shaking and the rest of his body still frozen._

"_Ace Savvy wouldn't be afraid…." He thought to himself._

_He tried to muster courage from thinking about his idol and super-hero, Ace Savvy and indeed he manage to get himself a trickle of calmness in him._

_It went away soon enough._

_Lincoln again clutched his bunny harder, any more and it might start bursting from the seams._

_He could really use Ace Savvy's help right about now. He could use pretty much any superhero's help right about now. _

_He could use anyone's help right now._

_Anyone, who could help him or save him or maybe just guide him, just so he could get this ordeal over with, he needed someone to be with him._

_He couldn't do this alone…_

_Some big brother he was. Some 'man' he was._

"_Ummm….. Hey there…"_

"_Huh?" Lincoln quick turned to his side towards the voice, his head now looking up._

_Her._

_She was from school, his school. She was several classes and obviously years ahead of him in age, but he knew her. Well, he knew who she was – everyone did. She was arguably the most popular girl at school._

_As she stood in front of him, leaned over, her long blonde hair freely flew in the soft air; it looked even more golden than it usually did thanks to the sunshine. She wore a purple one-piece swimsuit, an expensive looking one what seemed like, to be expected, her parents were pretty rich – not "giant mansion rich" but you know, rich-ish rich._

_And he may or may not have a crush on her._

"_I…" Lincoln tried to come up with something coherent to say._

"_You look scared, are you lost? um, Do you need any help?" Her voice came with the purest form of concern, as she extended her arm towards him._

"_I…um….I…I am…" Lincoln continued to struggle to speak…_

"_Hey, hey calm down, ok? Take a deep breath and I'll help you, alright?" She assured him, to which Lincoln followed her advice, and took a couple of deep breaths to relax himself._

"_So, um, My name is-" _

"_I…I know who you are!" Lincoln spoke out with a sudden burst bravado, cutting the girl off and surprisingly her._

"_I've… I've seen you at school!" he continued; "Everyone…everyone knows you!...You're like….the most popular girl in school! And the smartest! And prettiest, I-"_

_Like lightning hitting a crate full of dynamite, Lincoln realized the things he just blurted out right in front of her, and immediately his face blew up in embarrassment – not only did his face look it had taken all the blood from his body, but it also looked like that blood was at boiling temperature._

_The blonde girl only giggled happily._

"_Well." She started to speak; "You're pretty up front huh?"_

"_I don't know about being the smartest… But do you really think I'm the prettiest? Hmmm?"_

_It took a moment for Lincoln to recompose himself, brushing aside the dumbfoundness of the fact he wasn't be ridiculed at the moment, before he finally spoke; "I….um….Yes…"_

_She let out another giggle; "Well tell you what, I've seen you a few times around school too… I think you're pretty cute yourself." A very faint blush came across her cheeks, as she proceeded to pat him softly on his head, ever so briefly playing with his unique white hair._

_Lincoln meanwhile, was about as red as the time he found those weird magazine's in one of dad's shoeboxes– the one about where those women misplaced their clothes. _

_For some reason his mom yelled at his dad for that. A lot._

"_But…." The girl continued; "Kinda unfair that you know my name and I don't know yours…."_

_Lincoln suddenly perked up; "Oh right! Um…I'm…uh…." He took another breath;_

"_I'm Lincoln Loud." He answered._

"_Well nice to meet you Lincoln." She smiled and extended her hand, palm open, inviting Lincoln to a hand shake, to which he eagerly did._

"_So now….." She gently squeezed his hand; "Are you really lost?"_

"_Um…. Yea…you see…" Lincoln began to explain;_

"_I got lost from parents…because I….well…. Its kinda a long story…." He chuckled nervously; his crab related misadventures were a story for another time…_

"_Any…anyway I came from… that direction…. I think…" he pointed in the towards where he believed he came from._

"_And I'm…. I'm scared to walk alone…. With all those people…." He turned his head somberly down at the sand, expecting her to mock him for being a wimp._

_Instead she put her hand on his chin and slowly lifted his head back to face her._

"_Ok…" The blonde girl smiled at him;_

"_How about I help you find your parents, hm? I'll walk with you – and you can even hold my hand if you want. Will you trust me enough to do that?"_

"_Su..sure… of course!... I mean….um…" Lincoln really didn't have the slightest clue how and why this was happening, was this really happening? Was she really going to help him? Was she really still talking to him? Popular girls like her aren't supposed to even acknowledge the existence of kids like him… well, at least that's what he was told._

_The girl let out a chuckle._

"_Ok, Come on, and don't worry – we'll find your mom and dad, they're probably just as worried as you are." She gave him a sincere as-there-ever-was smile._

_Lincoln nodded, after which she began in the direction he had pointed out, where he believed he had ran astray from – she held his hand tightly and Lincoln was sure she was occasionally squeezing it._

_All the while he stared at her with near-stupor as they walked casually across the beach, no more worries filled his mind – about being lost, about not seeing mom or dad ever again and about the mass of unknown people that he was now effortless brushing by._

_Was this really happening? Was SHE really helping him? _

_He wanted to smile wide and even laugh, heck, he even felt a little giddy inside._

_She occasionally would turn around to look at him, with a reassuring smile – dedicated to her promise of reuniting him with his parents again, Lincoln would just smile and nod back, his faith completely in her._

_Lincoln had found someone brave, someone he could trust, someone would was willing to help him when he needed it. He found a new friend._

_He found his new superhero._

_He just didn't realize that one day he would end up having to be a superhero for her._

_And for their daughter._

….

Lincoln never forgot that day.

He remembers almost every detail of that day – after him and her met.

He remembers everything from when they first saw each other, when they introduced each other, all the things they talked about and shared interests with one another, like his love for comics and Ace Savvy, and one of her favorite bands being 21 Captains….as they continued walking across the beach.

That band name was weird, though.

He remembers the moment when they finally did find his mom and dad – how happy he was, how relieved they were and how glad she was, Lincoln's parents also thanked her tremendously.

Eventually both his and her parents introduced themselves to one another, Lincoln and she both explained themselves to both pairs. They ended up enjoying their time at the beach together. It turned out to be a pretty fantastic day.

He fondly remembers how she made an adorable 'squee' noise when she met Lily, his less-than-a-year-old baby sister, at the time, that day.

She played with her, hugged her, rocked her in her arms and made her giggle. It was all so natural.

She would be the perfect mom.

Lincoln still remembers that day, 10 years ago, when they first met.

And he still remembers her to this very day, of course.

Her. The mother of his child, their daughter.

Carol.

Lincoln had awake only a few minutes ago. Still laying on his bed, turned to the side and facing the blank wall.

His expression was blank – his eyes indicated that he may still be tired, as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep from last night. Immediately below his eyes, were signs of dried tears, they did not appear any further than that, though.

"_Of all the goddamn songs…" _He said to himself in his head, his face still emotionless.

"_it HAD to be that one…."_

"_THAT stupid song….. from THAT….stupid…..band…..god…damn it…."_

The thoughts blistered him inside his mind, and yet he was not truly angry, not upset or annoyed, he couldn't really be sure if he was even discontent.

He had been through all that before. There was no more point to it – it was just tiring now.

"_It had to be it….why did it have…..why did it have to be….."_ He began clenching his fist tightly, but his face remained stoic.

"_It just had to be….be….."_

"_Her favorite…..song….."_

With as much force as humanely possible, Lincoln slammed his fist into the face that he had been facing – his look still unchanged and completely neutral. His fist hurt of course, but he could 'numb' the pain, he had become good at that.

As for the wall, well there was a decent dent there – probably not noticeable from a distance, only up close or so. Although if and when mom and dad would manage to spot it he was going to most likely get a long lecture session.

With a long sigh he rose up slightly and took an instinctive look at Lila to see if she was still sleeping in her crib, and she was – she rolled gently from one side to the other, but she was indeed blissfully in slumber.

Lincoln smiled and was glad, as with that sight his weary mind eased.

However, Lincoln suddenly felt something at his side towards the edge of the bed, as he began turning his head to see what it was, he realized out even before he had finished.

Lily.

Lying on her side herself, Bun-Bun firmly clutched by one of her bands and pressed under her cheek as she lay, she looked up at Lincoln with a modest smile though it seemed her eyes indicated a sense of worry.

Lincoln smiled back at his little his little sister; "Mornin' Lilybug."

"Morning bro" She replied softly.

Lincoln stretched out his arms as he sat himself on his bed face toward his sister.

"So… to what do I owe the pleasure of this morning visit from you, Noble dragon-slaying knight?"

"Assassin" She said assertively as she herself sat up, Bun-Bun in hand.

"Oh right, sorry – Assassin." Lincoln answered back, correcting himself.

"And I'm not noble." Lily further added.

"Oh?" Lincoln asked with curiosity as he leaned back folding his arms, while Lily had now properly sat herself up, and began explaining;

"Mhm. I mean I'm not completely super evil since I usually do help people out on and I _am_ trying to trying to save the world and put an end to the dragon menace…But…not noble. "

"It's just that I do…certain…things….to earn some side money…."

"What kind of things?" Lincoln arched a brow.

"Well like…." Lily shifted her head, while keeping an 'innocent' look.

"…..Killing an old lady running an orphanage in exchange for some silverware…."

Lincoln took a pause for a few seconds; "I…see….."

You know, Maybe giving a 6 year-old an 18+ rated game was not one of his best ideas. It was with good intentions, at least….

"The dang silverware didn't sell for a lot…. But sneaking around the orphanage then finally hearing that old hag scream when I stabbed her was pretty fun." Lily continued; "Thankfully none of the kids at the orphanage woke up or else I would've had to-"

"Ok. Lily. I get it." He said as he patted her head, partially as a sort of congratulations for her….accomplishment….and maybe also a little out of fear, too.

Seriously, would you trust a little sister with Assassin aspirations?

With that in mind, Lincoln decided to ask a more obvious question;

"Anyway Lils…. why are you in my bed? I mean I don't mind, Lil'bug, but you know…."

Lily squeezed onto Bun-Bun before matching her gaze with her brothers;

"Oh Well I…."

"I woke up last night having to go the bathroom, and then I um, decided to come into your room to check in Lila… Y'know – like I usually do."

"Well, I saw Lila was fine but… but you were moving around in bed and… saying… err mumbling something, I couldn't really understand what…."

"It was like…. You were having a bad dream so I thought….um… that maybe I could help calm you down…."

Lincoln gave out a weak smile while taking a quick glance Lila; "Heh…. Usually it goes the other way, huh."

"Mhm…. Anyway…. After I snuggled beside you, you did calm down…erm, after awhile…" Lily replied.

Lincoln proceeded to pat her head again and followed it up with a few scritches on her cheek, like one would give to a cat."Well…. Thanks then, Lily, _seemed_ you helped me feel better."

Lily smiled at her brother, the praise and the scritches, specially the scritches. While Lincoln relaxed his posture for a moment, before coming to a somewhat sterner one as he again locked gaze's with his little-ever-so-innocent baby sister….

Her video-game related murderous assassin intentions aside.

"Now as for you having to go to the toilet in the middle of the night…." He asked with a smug look, Lily's smile turning into a nervous one as he continued; "It wouldn't have anything to do with you…. Sneaking another can of soda into your room…. Would it?"

"Ahehehe…No…Kind of…..Maybe…." Lily gave an uneasy grin.

"I've told you about 7 million times now that's bad for you, you sweet-tooth addict"

Lily puffed her cheeks and folded her arms, squeezing the defenseless Bun-Bun in the process.

"I'd rather give my life up before you I let you deprive of my soda!" she shouted with defiance that would make William Wallace tremble.

Lincoln smirked, though remained relaxed and calm

"How about I give you a sentence of ten-thousand tickles instead?"

Lily's eyes widened with a horror-struck face… then proceeded to turn into a unamused look all together. And maybe slightly insulted.

"Oh, Poo Poo."

And thus were her last, deadpanned, words as she was engulfed within a furious whirlwind of well tempered and well experienced tickle attacks. Lincoln learned long ago that although there are many ways to discipline a liquid-sugar guzzling little sister, taking her into an embrace of unrelenting tickles until she learned her lessons being chief among them.

Eventually Lily would start enjoying them anyway, although that did defeat the intended purpose.

A short while in, the commotion of the laughter would cause Lila to wake up from her crib and possibly want to join in on the fun, and with that, meant the start of another day for the family.

Lincoln also heard faint guitar music being played from upstairs again – another SMOOCH song it sounded like, though for some reason it seemed to have abruptly cut off. Odd.

_Left a good job in the city  
Workin' for the man ev'ry night and day_

_And I never lost one minute of sleepin'  
Worryin' 'bout the way things might have been_

_Big wheel keep on turnin'  
Proud Mary keep on burnin'  
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river_

It was a couple of hours before noon.

"So you want me to take Lily and Lila to the city mall?" Lincoln turned towards and asked his mother as he listened to music with a headphone in one of his ears, his daughter sitting his lap, played with his free hand, as usual, while they sat in the apartment's living room.

"Mhm. Your father and I decided to stay in for today and… er, _relax_." Rita said as she passed a brief glace, with an ever-so-noticeable smirk, at her and her husband's bedroom door, where inside Ol' Lynn was still sleeping off last night…

Lincoln knew what that smirk meant.

He really wished he didn't.

Then again, becoming a father at fourteen sort of disqualified him from having a right to complain. And it would make him one hell of a hypocrite.

Rita turned her eyes back to her son and continued; "Anyway, Lily and us have already been there, meaning you and Lila are the only ones who haven't haven't visited it yet, so you know, I thought you could take both your sister and Lila and cross that off your bucket list."

Lincoln let out a sigh. "You mean _your _bucket list, mom…."

Rita pulled out a decent stack of cash from her back pocket "I'll even throw a good bit of cash for you to spend there."

Lincoln let out a snort and put on a grin; "Egads, mother! Stooping yourself to bribing your own son! I expected you to be a decent woman!" he cupped both his cheeks with his hands as he tried to mimic his father's…attempt… of a British accent.

Lincoln's light-hearted jibe earned him a not so light-hearted smack to the head. But at least Lila giggled, eh.

"Leave the sarcasm jokes for your father and his mid-life crisis." Rita said sternly while extending her hand with the wad of cash towards Lincoln. "Take the money, take your sister and take your daughter out for an evening at the mall and enjoy yourself. Along with that, you'll be getting more used to the city."

Lincoln took a pause from rubbing his head. "Listen, mom, I don't really mind spending some time at a mall _especially_ with lots of, uh, money and all, but it's just…. I'm not really comfortable with taking Lila out in the city….yet…"

Rita let out a sigh. "Lincoln, Lila, just like you and Lily, is going to be growing up here. Now, I know you inherited your grandfather's' overprotective father' genes, and I honestly feel bad for Lila for when she'll be at the age to start dating boys…"

Lincoln looked just a teeny bit offended. And his eyes may have twitched at the mention of the word 'boyfriend'

Nonetheless, his mom continued; "But Great Lakes is one of the better city's there are and I know for a fact nothing will happen to my granddaughter so long as _her big white bear of a daddy_ will look after her." Rita said in a deliberate teasing tone.

Lincoln leaned his head back and a face of stoic contemplation as he took a moment to process that;

"OK first of all."

"Do not ever call me that ever again."

Rita innocently rolled her eyes. "Heh, sorry honey, that's what I used to call your Pop-Pop when I was younger."

Took did a double take at Lila; "That goes double for you."

"Da!" was the toddler's reply.

Lincoln never felt sorrier for his grandfather after learning that fact. He shook his head and continued to speak; "Second, I will be perfectly fine with my little girl…. _**Dating**_… _**a boy**_… she likes…."

Rita raised an eyebrow.

"…..When she turns sixtee- no, eighteen…..er….actually, Twenty….uh,…Twenty-One."

Lincoln received a second smack to the head from an unimpressed Rita, albeit much lighter this time. But hey Lila laughed again so it's all fine.

"An…Anyway…" Lincoln stammered "I'm still not sure-" Lincoln was cut off when Rita raised her palm to him.

"Lily! Sweetie! Could you come here for a moment?" Rita called out to her daughter.

After several seconds Lily's door slowly opened, leading to Lily jumping out into the hallway, looking behind her and doing a full continuous combat-roll down the hall and into the living room till she reached behind the couch, from there she hugged the back of it and….'stealthily' went onto its side and finally did a rather impressive acrobatic spinning jump from the side of the couch and to the front of it.

She assumed a crouched stance and covered the lower half of her face with her arm. "Whomst has summoned the bewitched one?" she hissed as her pupils dashed at all angles.

Rita slowly turned her head from her daughter's spectacle and looked at an unfazed Lincoln for an explanation. Meanwhile Lila clapped at the performance.

"Soda." Lincoln replied _very_ dryly to his mom.

"Ah." Rita said as she matched her son's tone.

Honestly at this point it was more than one soda. Probably a lot of soda. More than likely dangerous levels of soda. Everyone remembers the last time Lily had too much soda.

Those pigeons didn't deserve a fate like that…..

"Well, Anyway, Lily, why don't you tell your brother about that large comic store we found at the mall?" Rita said with a small smug as she noticed her son's eyes and ears perk up.

"Oh." Lily said as she assumed a normal 6-year olds posture and tone; "Well, Yea, Like, there was this _huuuge_ comic and book store at the second floor of the mall, like it was about the size of two stores and it had 2 floors of its own." She took a second to breathe. "Oh and it had a section of those weird Japanese comics that you like-" Lily found herself cut off as her brother jumped off the right off the couch and up stood up straight, Lila still firmly in hand."

"Alrighty then, it's settled! We're heading out to the mall today!" Lincoln said with a jolt of vigor as he gave a quick peck to his daughter and a rub of the head to his little sister.

Lincoln then preceded quickly took the money his mother had been holding to give him, and brought Lila up to his face; "Daddy's got a new edition of _Joseph's Deranged Odyssey _to buy today!" he giddily declared.

Now, Rita loved her son dearly, especially with all he's been through.

But, at this current moment, she be damned if she didn't felt like smacking him a third time.

She reached out her hand and placed it on Lincoln's shoulder; "Hold on, sweetie."

Lincoln turned around towards her, allowing her to continue; "Maybe you should go out a little later today than now….. You know… _after_ your sister has…. Calmed down."

Lincoln nodded; "Oh right the effects of caffeinated sugar, probably sho-" Lincoln's words went silent on his lips as he passed a look to his little sister.

Were her pupils always dilated like a reptile's?

Did her eyes always glow with a shade of orang-

What the Christ.

_if you come down to the river  
Bet you gonna find some people who live  
You don't have to worry 'cause you have no money  
People on the river are happy to give_

_Big wheel keep on turnin'  
Proud Mary keep on burnin'  
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river  
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river_

_Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river  
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river_

"Alright Mom, we're leaving!" Lincoln shouted as him, his daughter and his sister left the apartment, on their way to the mall, for Lincoln and Lila it would be their first time shopping there; as a result Lily would be their de facto chaperone.

Speaking of Lily, aka little Miss hyper-active-assassin, it took several hours for her to calm down from the effects of her soda binge effects, but eventually she got back to normal – after passing out for a bit, that is.

She received scolding from her mother as expected and things went about normally after that, as for now, where it was sometime past three in the afternoon, Lily was back to her _humane_ self.

In the meantime that they had been waiting Lincoln decided to check and see what all the recent… "Girl" "Friends" he made were up to – seems they all had plans with their parents, Lynn with her dad at the gym, Lucy with her mom at their favorite poetry café and Lana and Lola on a visit with their parent's to one of the latter's friends.

Guess everyone was busy today. Oh well. More money to spend on himself, he figured…. Oh and Lily, too.

Rita had also given him a little grocery list just at the last moment before they went out. Lincoln couldn't really say he didn't see that one coming. Eh whatever, he gets his comic at least.

Just before leaving he reminded himself that today was when Bobby wanted to talk to him about… something. Specifically in the evening, which was when Bobby would get off from work.

Shouldn't spend _too_ much time at the mall, then.

Lincoln also had taken notice of the fact that his father had not been present outside his room the entire day – having spent it all residing and 'relaxing' in his and his wife's room.

"It's almost like some lazy author didn't wanna write any scenes or dialogue for the guy." Lincoln quietly said to himse-

"_**HEY**__."_

"Heh, you forgot I can occasionally still break the fourth wall, didn't ya?" Lincoln snickered.

"…_.__**Dick**__."_

Lincoln walked over to the elevator, his daughter in his arms, and called it, but then taking a look behind him he noticed that Lily hadn't moved from her spot in front of the apartment door. Rather she was just standing there, her arms innocently folded behind her back while she so gently rocked back and forth on her toes; a bubbly smile adorned her face.

Lincoln raised a very curious/concerned eyebrow; "Uh, Lily? You comin'? is something the matter?"

Lily nodded her head jubilantly; "I don't wanna take the elevator. I wanna take the stairs!" she said as she pointed towards the floor's stairway.

Lincoln was bemused; "Huh? What, why? Have you been talking with Lynn? Why do you want to…"

Lincoln stopped his words.

He hung his head in defeat and let out a VERY audible sigh.

He walked over to the front of the stairs, turning himself to face them.

He then knelt down and leaned forward, widening his back as much as he could.

Almost immediately he felt the weight of a certain little blonde collide with his back and her arms wrapped around his neck.

Making sure Lily was firmly and safely on his back he stood up again and began slowly walking down the stairs – mindful of keeping his balance as he held Lila in his arms all the while.

His daughter meanwhile smiled at him and gave him a few encourage pats on the cheek; "Da."

"The Things I do for Love…" He said as he continued walking down the stairs, whilst Lily, with big grin and all enjoyed her chariot ride.

As they arrived in the lobby and started walking towards the front door knelt back down and signaled to Lily to get off him for a moment, after which he handed Lila to her as well.

"Hey, what gives!" Lily complained while Lila nestled herself into her arms with a fuss.

Lincoln reached his back pocket and took out his wallet as he turned to reply to Lily;

"Ok, I _was not_ going to carry you all the way to mall like that. We're taking a cab to the mall"

Lily let out a annoyed hmpf.

"Second, just hold Lila for a few seconds, I just need to separate some cash for the cab fare is all." He said as he rummaged through his wallet pulling out a small amount of the money from the main bundle.

"Ok there." He said as he put the smaller wad of cash in his shirt pocket and the wallet back into his pants. "Now you can give me Lila- GAH"

Huh.

So that's what an egg fells like when you smash it with a sledgehammer.

"_Good….to…..know."_ Lincoln thought to himself he fell flat back on the floor and hitting the back of his head – further amplifying the volcanic-erupting pain stemming from whatever kind of merciless godforsaken blow he had taken to the front of his skull.

"Linky!" Lily cried out as she rushed towards her brother. "Da!" Lila followed suit.

Meanwhile two girls, seemingly Lincoln's age, stood in front of his hopefully not lifeless and seriously hopefully not corpse, one of them held a now slightly dented purple guitar.

"Oi Shite-"

"LUNES! I TOLD YOU STOP SWIGGING THAT ON YOUR SHOULDER."

"Well how was I suppose someone would pop-up behind me?!"

"THAT'S WHY I KEEP TELLING YOU."

As Lincoln lay flat on the floor of the lobby, his senses having taken a leave to the dark side of Pluto via hyperspace bullet train – he could barely make out to figures out had knelt to him, one to each side.

With what little conscious vision he had - said vision currently being the equivalent of a blind man drowning in an ocean of Fanta. – The only things he could make out were that they were both female and that the one on his left was a brunette with purple attire and the one on the right was blonde – with a curious streak of teal in her hair, her clothing consisting of a mix of colors of more teal, white and purple.

They were both _trying _to help him best they could but they weren't really sure how to proceed exactly.

"Brah, you in one piece?" said the brunette on the left. Although whether she was talking to Lincoln or her guitar was a matter of uncertainty.

"Really, Luna?!" The blonde on the right exclaimed at her friend before looking back down at Lincoln; "Hey listen dude, we'll call ambulance if its serious, and if you have to sue someone, she's the one who hit you!" she pointed at

The brunette let out an awkward smile; "Aye, look sorry, I should've been more care- OI, THE HELL SAM?!"

"How many times have I warned you about carrying that guitar on your shoulder?!"

"Well at least don't leave me out to dry instantly!"

"This isn't the first time you've almost committed homicide by musical instrument! This is like, your… 111th time!"

"Well I-"

Their bickering was interrupted by the very angry sounds of a six year-old.

Lily was looking at them with a death-gaze as her hands were placed on Lincoln's forehead trying to comfort him, both older girls became unnerved as they could clearly hear growling noises coming out of the younger girl in front of them, in fact the growls were almost dog-…or rather, alligator like.

And right now she had the face to match, too.

Lila was also angrily staring at the two girls too – although she looked more like an angry little bunny than anything else. Honestly it was pretty cute, really.

As Lincoln's senses and vision very slowly came back to him she started to get a better look at both girls in front of him.

And despite the fact that his head currently felt like a 150kg canister of white-phosphorous had blown inside it, he couldn't help but notice…..

"_They're both kinda cute…oh god my head."_

"_Bloody 'ell, Lincoln."_

**A/Ns : I'll be honest, I didn't wanna reveal who Lila's mother was until much later but I figured it revealing her would serve as a recompense for the long hiatus I put this story on. So um, there you go.**

**I seem to have a tendency to put in a lot dialogue for characters, Is that a bad thing? Should I cut it down a notch? Hey, just looking to improve here.**

**No ETA and when the next chapter is gonna be out for this, but I'll be trying my best, nonetheless.**

**PS I still suck at proof-reading :(**


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